About one-sixth of the surface area in Alabama is comprised of bodies of water that include rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wetlands, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. More than 33 trillion gallons of water flow along the 77,242 miles of the state's water sources. Alabamians use these bodies of water for not only drinking water sources, but also hydroelectric power, irrigation purposes, fishing and recreation.
Alabama's largest river system, the Tennessee River, occupies seven states, according to the Alabama Water Watch Association. The river flows horizontally across the northern section of Alabama, and in all, the river flows 652 miles, beginning near Knoxville, Tennessee, and ending in Paducah, Kentucky. One of the nation's largest cavefish, the Alabama cavefish, can be found swimming the Alabama waters of the Tennessee River.
Located in East Alabama, near Alexander City, is Lake Martin, the state's largest man-made lake, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. The 40,000-acre lake, which has more than 700 miles of shoreline, attracts sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts from Alabama and beyond. Construction for the creation of the lake began in the early 1900s, and the Lake Martin's dam currently provides more than 154,000 kilowatts of hydroelectric power to the surrounding area.
Sixty-five percent of Alabama's land area waters empty into the Mobile Bay, the state's central estuary system, according to the Alabama Water Watch Association. Because fresh water is combined with marine water, the bay's biological, environmental and ecological systems are diverse. Mobile Bay is about 32 miles tall and about 23 miles wide, and the body of water is the sixth largest watershed basin in the nation.
