The Orchard Lake Special Assessment District Aquatic Advisory Board was formed on February 19, 2013 to continuously monitor and improve the water quality of Orchard Lake.
Our major activities will include testing of the lake water for clarity, and monitoring lake testing for bacteria.
We will also conduct and monitor an annual lake weed management program to remove excess vegetation, especially invasive vegetation species, from the lake, as well as improve the lake for recreational activities. Excessive lake vegetation growth is mostly caused by run-off of fertilizer from lawns; the City of Orchard Lake has embarked on a program of local ordinance change and homeowner education so that we can hopefully improve this problem.
Our third major activity will be the annual goose round-up and egg replacement program, which reduces the number of geese in the lake area and thereby reduces contamination from goose droppings.
We will be monitoring zebra mussel growth and other undesirable invasives in our lake. Future data will enable us to identify problems and hopefully address solutions to these issues.
With the Special Assessment District Fund (SAD), we will be able to do a much better job of maintaining the quality of our lake. The SAD is necessary because past volunteer support was only about 65% of the current level, which is insufficient to manage all of the important programs dedicated to lake quality.
The SAD Fund also pays for the marine patrol by the Oakland County Sheriff's Department.