Upper Straits Lake Level

Upper Straits Lake is a 378 acre lake located in Sections 15, 16 and 17 within the Township of West Bloomfield and the City of Orchard Lake Village.

The Drain Commissioner is the delegated authority for the maintenance and operation of the court-ordered legal level for Upper Straits Lake.

The lake level is currently controlled by a steel sheet pile structure with two stop log weirs. The existing Upper Straits weir was constructed in 1964 and has undergone several repairs since that time. In recent years, the stop log weirs have failed to operate as intended and the overall condition of the structure has deteriorated.

Spicer Group was hired in August 2007 as the consulting engineer to prepare a study of the Upper Straits Lake Dam. The primary objectives of this study are to determine the full extent of possible degradation the existing structure has experienced and to investigate feasible and prudent alternative methods and designs for controlling the normal level of the lake, including permanent removal of the structure.