From Water Wiki

Contents 1 Drainage area 2 Storage 3 Major water users 4 Water quality issues 5 Population and growth in basin 6 State, basin, and local institutions related to water use 7 Federal involvement 8 Interstate issues 9 References

Drainage area

The Yadkin Pee Dee River basin is North Carolina’s second largest, including 5,862 stream miles and 22,988 lake acres, and spanning 21 counties and 93 municipalities. The River Basin covers approximately 7,221 square miles of North Carolina.^[1]

The Yadkin River rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook.  The river becomes the Pee Dee River at the confluence of the Uwharrie River, and flows into South Carolina near Cheraw, which is at the fall line where it becomes the Great Pee Dee River. It is part of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin.^[2] 

Principal tributaries of the Yadkin include the Reddies, Roaring, Mitchell, Fisher, Ararat and South Yadkin Rivers.

Storage

The Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin contains 10 damming operations:^[3]

Yadkin River

• High Rock Dam
  
• Tuckertown Dam
  
• Narrows (Badin) Dam
  
• Falls Dam
  

Pee Dee River

• Tillery Dam
  
• Blewett Falls Dam
  

South Yadkin River

• Cooleemee Dam
  

Hitchcock Creek

• Ledbetter Dam
  

Little River

• Eury Dam
• Little River Dam

Major water users

Approximately half of the watershed is forestland, most of it privately owned. Nearly one-third of the watershed is used for agriculture, including cropland (15.6 percent) and pastureland (14.1 percent). Just 13 percent of the land is developed, although this figure is rising rapidly.^[4]

The river is extensively used for recreation. Fishing consists mostly of sunfish, catfish, largemouth bass and white bass in the spring and early summer. Canoeing and rafting are also possible. A portion of the river flows through Pilot Mountain State Park. Morrow Mountain State Park and the Uwharrie National Forest are along the banks of the river where the river's name changes to the Pee Dee River.^[5]

Several parts of the river are impounded by dams for water, power, and flood control.

Water quality issues

Badin Lake, one of several major reservoirs located on the main stem of the Yadkin River, serves as the primary drinking water source for the City of Albemarle. Citizens throughout the entire region, as well as many others from North Carolina, utilize Badin Lake for fishing and swimming. Alcoa, one of the world’s leading producers of primary aluminum, conducted its aluminum smelting operations from approximately 1915 until mid-2007 at the Badin Works plant, located adjacent to Badin Lake.

Alcoa has discharged pollutants into the air, land and waterways during the operation of the Badin Works Plant. There are at least six known contamination sites located around the Alcoa plant. Alcoa has acknowledged that the operation of the Badin Works plant has also resulted in contamination of the public water supply. The known contaminants include cyanide, fluoride, PCBs, solvents, metals, hydrocarbons, benzene, naphthalene and methane.^[6]

In 2010, WUNC-TV (producer Eszter Vajda) produced a three part series on the legislative and public debate about the best role for the State versus Alcoa in future operations of the federally-licensed projects on the river.

The Yadkin also suffers from stormwater runoff from construction sites, leading to sedimentation and erosion.

Population and growth in basin

The current population within the basin is about 1.6 million, with an average population density of 222 persons per square mile.^[7]

State, basin, and local institutions related to water use

Yadkin Riverkeeper

North Carolina Division of Water Quality

North Carolina Division of Water Resources

Federal involvement

• Relicensing the Yadkin Project

Interstate issues

Water supplies for many communities in North and South Carolina are taken from the Yadkin-Pee Dee and during drought years the division of the water is a contentious issue.

In addition, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue has stressed the importance of replacing the over 50 year old Interstate 85 bridge over the Yadkin River. Department of Transportation officials have put a Yadkin river bridge replacement — part of a 6.8-mile I-85 widening project between Rowan and Davidson counties — at about $300 million.^[8]

References

1.  http://www.yadkinriverkeeper.org/Default.aspx?pageId=235981
   
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yadkin_river
   
3. http://www.ncwater.org/About_DWR/Water_Projects_Section/Instream_Flow/hydropictures~yadkin.html
   
4. http://www.yadkinriverkeeper.org/Default.aspx?pageId=235981
   
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yadkin_river
   
6. http://www.yadkinriverkeeper.org/backgroundinformation
   
7. http://www.yadkinriverkeeper.org/Default.aspx?pageId=235981
   
8. http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/011409-perdue-talks-about-yadkin-bridge
   

Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found