Indian Lake Improvement Association

Indian Lake | Dowagiac, MI

What is the ILIA?

ILIA, Inc. is the name under which the Indian Lake Improvement Association was formed February of 2000. The corporation was organized on a Membership Basis and was to be financed under a general plan of Membership Dues and Fund Raisers.

ILIA is responsible for developing and implementing a plan for improving the health and wellbeing of Indian Lake. Since its incorporation, the ILIA Board has undertaken several projects which benefit all lake residents.

Projects include:

  1. the weed harvester (on going)
  2. the application of herbicides to control Eurasian Milfoil/other invasive aquatic plants (on going) 
  3. a Laminar flow aeration system (on going)
  4. the north inlet nutrient reduction (on going) 

The first four projects (listed above) deal with problems existing within the actual lake boundaries. The fifth problem deals with nutrients, from neighboring agricultural properties within the watershed area, entering the lake. These nutrients collect in a stream, known as the Mann Drain, which ultimately flows into a wetland area north of the lake which serves as a filtering area. The Board, through a generous donation, acquired approximately 15 acres of adjoining wetland area on the south side of School Street. This acquisition now provides the ILIA an opportunity to establish a program to reduce nutrients before entering the lake from neighboring agricultural properties.

Goals and Objectives

The primary goal of the ILIA is to PRESERVE, PROTECT, and IMPROVE the quality of Indian Lake and a secondary goal of minimizing the use of chemicals in their remedial methodologies. 

The ILIA, Inc., since its incorporation, has diligently been operating with the primary objective of improving and protecting Indian Lake. This improvement is for the benefit of present lake riparian property owners and future generation. This has been accomplished by selecting and implementing the following:

  • Valid and Stable long term planning programs
  • Good Stewardship
  • Visionary Leadership
  • Environmentally friendly weed control
  • Stable and safe water quality
  • Educating lake residents about remedial efforts to improve water quality