Cedar Lake is a 1,075 acre lake located in northern Michigan near Oscoda. K&A is providing technical assistance through the creation of a watershed management plan to address environmental issues at the lake, including annual summer water loss and low lake levels. Previous work with the Alcona-Iosco Cedar Lake Association includes a two-part hydrologic study of lake water loss using a mass balance approach. Reports from this study can be downloaded using the links below.

K&A and watershed stakeholders are working through the US Environmental Protection Agency's "9 Elements" of watershed management planning to develop a comprehensive watershed management plan that will address a variety of watershed and water quality concerns. Included in this list of concerns is the annual summer lake level losses that Cedar Lake has experienced over the past decade.

• Cedar Lake Hydrologic Study, Phase I (pdf): Findings from Phase I of this project revealed that 75% of the lake shoreline was losing water. Storm sewers directing runoff away from the lake and high volumes of groundwater withdrawals were other significant causes of the greater than two foot annual water level drop.

• Cedar Lake Hydrologic Study, Phase II (pdf): The second phase of this project focuses on water inputs from surface water and precipitation. The study findings concluded that summer precipitation is the only external influence of lake levels. Data from this study suggest that long-term management of lake levels might be possible by monitoring precipitation and providing supplemental recharge into the lake with an augmentation of restored surface flows and/or deep groundwater withdrawal.