SISTER LAKES — With the month of July halfway over, rain continues to fall in Michigan. As water levels rise, especially in areas like Sister Lakes, concerns have risen from local residents.

This past month, Silver Creek Township received about six complaints to the township office about high water levels. None of the residents addressed their complaints to the township at the monthly board meeting, said Bill Saunders, the Silver Creek Township supervisor.

“Most of the people realize what’s going on,” Saunders said. “You have some people that move in from big cities that can control their water levels in their community with drains. We don’t have that option.”

Saunders said the Sister Lakes region is located in a basin that drains directly into the lakes. This can be helpful during the dry season, but can lead to high water levels during particularly rainy seasons. Normally, this amount of rain is not common in Sister Lakes, he said.

So far, July has had an average of 2.69 inches of rain, compared to July 2018’s average of 3.49 inches, according to the national Weather Service of Northern Indiana, which tracks the precipitation levels of Dowagiac. June of this year had an average of 6.12 inches, which was measured against June 1953, which had a precipitation average of 3.92 inches.

“Our lakes vary in height because of the climate,” Saunders said. “Five years ago, lakes were wanting to put in pumps and wells to raise the level. Now, we’ve come in the cycle of excessive rain, and it raises the level of the lakes. Most of the lakes that have a drain are still high because there is such a small discharge.”

Although high water levels can be seen as a negative, Saunders said there are certain benefits to having an excess of water in the region.

“This is a natural thing,” he said. “When the water is high like this, it is replenishing the wetlands, swamps and bringing about the cycles of wildlife that have been dormant.”

Saunders said the township virtually has no control over the rising lake levels, except to regularly advise wakeboard boats to be mindful of large wakes when near the shoreline.

“The wakes wash out sea walls and destroy the shore line,” Saunders said. “Common sense goes a long way. Boats should stay in the deeper part of the lake where they have more room away from shorelines. It helps tremendously.”

Ultimately, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources controls all water surfaces in the state of Michigan and has the ability to create a no wake lake, which means no wake at all. Once a lake is deemed a no wake lake, it is hard to have the DNR reverse its decision, Saunders said. He used Dewey Lake as an example, as it has set hours for power boating and no wake hours, all of which were assigned by the DNR.

With warmer weather on the way, Saunders said he expects the cycle to reverse in the next couple of weeks.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had super high water,” he said. “Next, we will get the warm weather, a dry spell, and it will go the other way.”