Jordan Lake is a reservoir west of Raleigh and south of Durham, NC, that was formed by the damming of the Haw River and New Hope River between 1973 and 1983. The reservoir receives inputs from the mixed agricultural, rural and urban Haw River watershed and the mostly urban Upper New Hope and Lower New Hope watersheds. Water flows out over the Jordan Lake Dam and thereafter forms the Cape Fear River.

Falls Lake is reservoir north of Durham, NC that was formed by the damming of the Neuse River from 1978 - 1981. The lake has five principal tributaries, the Flat River, Eno RIver, Little River, Knap of Reeds Creek and Ellerbe Creek, which together contribution an average of 78 percent of the average annual inflow. The lake is 28 miles long from the confluence of the Eno, Little and Flat Rivers to the dam.

In 2016 the North Carolina General Assembly approved a bill to study water quality and nutrient management strategies in both Jordan and Falls Lakes under the auspices of the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory at UNC Chapel Hill. This HydroShare group was created as a repository for the documentation, data and associated findings that have come from this study, previous studies and future studies in these lakes and their watersheds. Complementary websites are: collaboratory.unc.edu/current-projects/legislative-studies/ and jordanlakeobservatory.unc.edu