Water Resources Research Act Program

Principal Investigators: JoAnn Burkholder, Nicole Lindor

Abstract: Falls Lake is a 50.2 km2 (12,400 acre) turbid, run-of-river impoundment in Wake and Durham counties, North Carolina (Figure 1). It was filled in 1983 and created for flood management, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, and drinking source water for more than half a million people (Upper Neuse River Basin Association [UNRBA] 2015). The Falls Lake State Recreation Area draws more than one million recreationists annually (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2013). Falls Lake, like many turbid reservoirs across the Southeastern U.S., is being adversely affected by cultural eutrophication (Burkholder 2006a, Touchette et al. 2007). In consideration of the use of Falls Lake for a major drinking source water as well as primary and secondary contact recreation, it is imperative to understand how piedmont reservoirs such as Falls Lake can be expected to respond to increasing cultural eutrophication.