The Catawba River is a tributary of the Wateree River , approximately 220 mi (354 km) long, in the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina. The river, which rises in the Appalachian Mountains and drains into Piedmont, is impounded in numerous places along its route for flood control and hydroelectricity, flowing largely through series of reservoirs.
It rises in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, in western McDowell County, approximately 20 mi (32 km) east of Asheville. It flows ENE, passing north of Morganton, then southeast. through the Lake Norman reservoir. South of Lake Norman it flows south, passing west of Charlotte, then flowing through the Lake Wylie reservoir, where it forms approximately 10 mi (16 km) of the border between North Carolina and South Carolina. It flows into northern South Carolina, passing east of Rock Hill, then through Fishing Creek Reservoir near Great Falls, and then into the Lake Wateree reservoir, approximately 30 mi (48 km) northeast of Columbia. Downstream from Lake Wateree, it becomes the Wateree River.
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