Mountain Island Lake is a lake northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina created in 1924 to coincide with the building of Mountain Island Hydroelectric Station. It is named after the mountain which appears as an island in the lake, and the surrounding area is identified by the lake’s name. The shape of the lake follows the meander of the Catawba River’s course, dammed near the Mount Holly Wastewater Plant. Full pond elevation is approximately 647.5 feet (197 m). The lake has around 3,281 acres (13 km2) of surface area and 61 miles (98 km) of shoreline.

Mountain Island Lake is fed by the Catawba River, and is the smallest of the three man-made lakes that border Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (Lake Norman, and Lake Wylie). Mountain Island Lake is managed by Charlotte-based company Duke Energy. The primary function of Mountain Island Lake is to provide drinking water for over 1 million residents of Charlotte and surrounding Mecklenburg County, as well as Mount Holly and Gastonia in Gaston County. The lake is also accessible to the public for boating and fishing use. There are three boating access areas on the lake and a tailrace fishing platform for bank fishing in cooperation with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

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