Water
Quality

Click on the link below for historical Water Quality Data for Moon Lake

Water Quality 2022

If you have any questions on Water Quality in Moon Lake as presented here
please contact Steve LaPolio  (stevelapalio@gmail.com)


WATER QUALITY TESTING

Your Moon Lake Association initiated testing of water quality in 1995 at the time we joined the Michigan Lake and Streams Association (MLSA).  The MLSA, in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), developed the “Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program” which enables individual lake associations such as ours to do the water testing.  We send samples to the DEQ for analysis.  The results of this analysis are provided annually.  At the present time we are conducting three tests that are important for measuring lake eutrophication, which is a natural process resulting from the gradual accumulation of nutrients, increased productivity and a slow filling in of the lake basin. The three tests are as follows:

  1. Secchi Disk. A weekly measure of water clarity.  A black and white disk, 8 inches in diameter, is lowered into the water and the deepest point at which is still can be seen is recorded (in feet).  Deeper readings indicate a healthy lake.
  2. Phosphorus.  Sampling for phosphorus is done twice each year – spring and late summer.  Phosphorus is the nutrient most responsible for increasing lake productivity, i.e., excessive weed growth and murky bottom sediments.  Lower readings indicate a healthy lake.
  3. Chorophyll-a.  Sampling for this pigment that occurs in the cells of plants is done five times each summer.  It is a reliable indicator of the algae being produced.  Like phosphorus, it is used to determine the productivity of a lake.  Lower readings indicate a healthy lake.

Notes:

  1. TSI stands for “Tropic State Index”, an index formula developed as a way to compare data for one lake to other lakes and to evaluate changes within the same lake over time.  The lower the TSI value, the better the water quality.
  2. The late summer total phosphorus results, along with the Secchi disk transparency and chlorophyll measurements, are used to determine the trophic status of the lake.  The spring overturn total phosphorus data, collected year after year, are useful for evaluating nutrient enrichment in the lake.
  3. The results of the testing to date indicates that Moon Lake is a healthy lake.

Comment:

Lake eutrophication is a natural process, but human activities can greatly speed up the process by dramatically increasing nutrient, soil or organic matter input to the lake, a process referred to as cultural eutrophication.  A primary objective of our Association is to slow down this process through education and intelligent management of our own properties.

MOON LAKE WATER LEVEL

A water gauge was installed on July 15, 2000. The bench mark level (water level at the time the gauge was installed ) is 2.50 feet. This is 3.0 feet below the high water mark. The levels reported are decimal readings instead of feet and  inches.

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