Belleville Lake (Wayne County, Michigan)

Belleville Lake is a 2-square-mile man-made lake located in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It was created in 1925 when the Eastern Michigan Edison Company built the French Landing Dam and Powerhouse along the Huron River. The 28-foot-high dam was the last in a series of five dams along the river, creating electricity from hydropower until 1962.[2] The hydropower plant was refurbished in 1988 and has a nameplate production of 1.7 MW.[3] It contains 17,780 acre-feet of water in the seven-mile-long lake.[4] The small community of Rawsonville was flooded out by the dam.

Belleville Lake is created by the 890-foot-long earthen dam at French Landing.
Belleville Lake
Belleville Lake seen from Doane's Landing
Belleville Lake
Location within the state of Michigan
Belleville Lake
Belleville Lake (the United States)
LocationVan Buren Township, Wayne County, Michigan
Coordinates42°12′43.1″N 83°29′46.7″W
Basin countriesUnited States
Surface area1,270 acres (5.1 km2)[1]

The lake is used for boating and fishing, although the dam has restricted the passage of some fish species and eliminated a commercial mussel fishery which provided mother of pearl for buttons in the early 1900s[5] A 2002 EPA report listed the water quality as good but algae blooms from phosphorus run-off are a known issue.[6][7]

References
  1. Belleville Lake survey map, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, updated 1943
  2. French Landing Dam, historical marker
  3. Inventory of Power Plants in the United States as of January 1, 1998, United States. Energy Information Administration. Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels, 1998
  4. Belleville Lake, Van Buren Township, official website, 2003
  5. Belleville Lake History Archived March 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Belleville Lake Current, William Zilke, Jul 15 2010
  6. Assessment Data for Michigan, Huron Watershed, Year 2002, U.S. EPA, Last updated on Thursday, May 24, 2012
  7. TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD FOR PHOSPHORUS IN FORD AND BELLEVILLE LAKES, MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, WATER DIVISION, SEPTEMBER 2004



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