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What is a watershed?

It’s kind of like a Zip code. Or a school attendance zone. Or a neighborhood.

A watershed is an area of land that drains to the same place. Everyone lives in a watershed. And our watershed can be affected by our individual actions.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s watersheds are named for the largest creek or lakeshore. In each watershed, all of the rainfall and runoff flows into that creek or lake.

Watersheds are sometimes called “basins.” A basin is like a kitchen sink. In a sink or in a watershed, all of the water drains to the same place.

If you have two kitchen sinks side by side, water in each sink goes down a separate drain. Likewise, the water in side-by-side watersheds flows to separate creeks.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg has more than 80 named creeks. Those creeks are grouped into 22 creek watersheds and four lake watersheds.

Did you know?

        • Not all Charlotte-Mecklenburg creeks flow to the south. Some flow to the west. Some even flow to the northeast!
        • Ridges are the areas of higher elevation that create the border of each watershed.
        • The names of some local creeks date back to the mid 1700s.

What’s your watershed?
Use the interactive Geospatial Portal. Type your address in the Search box. Click “Environment” on the left.

Learn about Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s creek and lakeshore watersheds
Catawba River Watershed Lake Norman Upper Mountain Island Lake McDowell Creek Gar Creek Lower Mountain Island-Upper Wylie Long Creek Paw Creek Lake Wylie-Beaver Dam Creek Steele Creek Irwin Creek “Big” Sugar Creek Upper Little Sugar Creek Lower Little Sugar Creek Briar Creek McMullen Creek McAlpine-Clem Creek Four Mile Creek Six Mile-Twelve Mile Creeks	Yadkin-PeeDee River Watershed Rocky River West Branch Clarke Creek Mallard Creek Back Creek Reedy-McKee-Caldwell Creeks Clear Creek Goose Creek Crooked Creek

Why do watersheds matter?

River watersheds in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and in North Carolina