Yadkin River Basin • Roanoke River Basin • Haw River Basin • Deep River Basin

The Haw River Basin

The Haw River Basin makes up the northern portion of the Cape Fear River. The headwaters begin in Forsyth County and run 110 miles into the Jordan Lake reservoir, one of the State's biggest tourist attractions and a municipal drinking water source for Cary, Pittsboro and other municipalities in central North Carolina. Tributaries of the Haw River flow through the Piedmont Triad including Guilford, Caswell, Alamance and Rockingham Counties. Almost one milliion people are part of this watershed.

Current Projects:

Jordan Lake Nutrient Reduction Handbook

The Jordan Lake Nutrient Reduction Handbook is a resource developed by a federally-funded partnership between the Piedmont Triad and Triangle J Councils of Governments (PTCOG & TJCOG, respectively). These two COGs cover the entire Jordan Lake watershed, which is governed by legislation designed to address and reduce nutrient inputs to the Lake watershed from both existing and future developments. The Jordan Lake Rules are precedent-setting legislation that changes the policy landscape for land use and development in North Carolina. This is already being seen in the Falls Lake and High Rock Lake watersheds, and may soon be extended to linear flows in river basins. The success of the Handbook and corresponding website sets the stage for similar education efforts in these watersheds. The Handbook is now available! Click here to view the site.

Completed Projects:

Little Alamance Restoration Alliance

The Little Alamance Restoration Alliance (LARA) is partnership of local organizations dedicated to improving the health of our waters and our communities through increasing water quality awareness. LARA is the result of an Ecosystem Enhancement Program funded Local Watershed Plan led by the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments (PTCOG). In 2008, the final plan identified public outreach and education as a priority in restoring Little Alamance Creek. In 2009, the NC Department of Water Quality awarded PTCOG funding to initiate LARA. For more information, please visit the LARA homepage.

Little Alamance, Travis & Tickle Creek Watershed Plan

The Little Alamance, Travis & Tickle Creek Watershed (LATT) occupies 52 square miles in western Alamance County and eastern Guilford County, NC, just north of the US I-40 highway. Little Alamance Creek (LA) is considered an impaired waterbody by the NC Division of Water Quality (DWQ). NC DWQ monitoring indicated the waters of Little Alamance Creek violate the Clean Water Act for impaired biological integrity; an analysis conducted in 2000 determined that the stressor was urban stormwater runoff. Travis and Tickle Creeks (TT) are listed as impaired for biological integrity in the 2008 Draft 303(d) list of impaired waters for having “Fair” bioclassifications, meaning that the watersheds did not possess the ecology they should, according to NC DWQ standards. In 2006, PTCOG partnered with Ecosystem Enhacement Program (EEP) and conducted an assessment of the water quality impacts and watershed needs in all LATT watersheds.

Piedmont Triad Council of Governments

Quick Links...