Most of these dams have outlived their useful lives and now are just ecological and community liabilities. The tributary rivers that flow into the Catawba are littered with legacy small dams that powered the textile industry of the region but have now fallen into disrepair. The river’s 11 hydroelectric dams combined with drought, climate change, and rampant development contribute to a variety of issues-including flow management, polluted runoff, and industrial waste-that continue to pose significant risk to the health of the river and the people that depend on it. Map of the Santee River watershed, including the Catawba River The Catawba Wateree Water Management Group has been focused on addressing some of the issues around water management that was highlighted by the droughts from 2007-2009 and the pressures of a growing population. In 2010, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) named the Catawba-Wateree basin one of the top 10 most endangered places in the Southeast for the same reason. The lack of an overall plan for efficient water use is one of the reasons why American Rivers named the Catawba River one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® in 2008. More than two million people now live in the Catawba-Wateree basin, and rapid growth is putting a strain on water resources. The hydro station forming Lake Wylie was the cornerstone of what is now Duke Energy, the largest electric power company in the U.S. THE BACKSTORYīeginning in 1904, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed to harness the power of the river in an effort to foster growth in the region and meet increasing demands for energy. The basin is one of a precious few areas left in the southeast with significant populations of the rocky shoals spider lily (Hymenocallis coronaria), with notably the world’s largest population left at Landsford Canal State Park. European explorers and early American settlers eventually found their way to the valley and continue to flock to the region, all leaving their mark on the river. The Catawba River is also rich in history, providing for ancestors of the Catawba Indian Nation for some 12,000 years. The land bordering much of the Catawba-Wateree along the Blue Trail remains a wooded and natural floodplain forest, creating a haven for bald eagles, river otters, belted kingfishers, and wildlife of all sorts. The 30-mile stretch of the Catawba River between the Lake Wylie Hydro Station and the upper end of Fishing Creek Lake is now the longest portion of the Catawba River that remains undammed, forming a significant portion of the Wateree Blue Trail that winds 75 miles south to meet the Congaree River Blue Trail within the national park. This once-wild waterway named for the Catawba tribe of Indigenous People - “the people of the river” - rises in the Blue Ridge Mountains just east of Asheville, NC, and yields for no fewer than 11 impoundments on its way to and through South Carolina, where it eventually becomes known as the Wateree River before landing in Congaree National Park for its final 10 miles above Lake Marion.Īlong the way, it weaves through some of the finest countrysides in the Carolinas, alternating between rural and urban landscapes, and passes by densely populated Charlotte, where it forms the 33,000-acre Lake Norman, a mecca of outdoor recreation.
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