The land area surrounding a lake that drains to the

lake is called its watershed or drainage basin. The

Houghton Lake watershed is 172 square miles in

area, a land area over five times greater than the

lake itself. Houghton Lake receives drainage from

Higgins Lake via the Cut River and four major

tributaries: Knappen Creek, Denton Creek, Spring

Brook, and Backus Creek. The Houghton Lake

watershed encompasses all or part of 13 townships.

Houghton Lake and Higgins Lake form the head-

waters of the Muskegon River. Water draining to the

Muskegon River from Houghton Lake travels over

200 miles downstream and drops about 560 feet in

elevation before entering Lake Michigan at

Muskegon.

Over the long term, Houghton Lake's water quality

will be influenced by land use activities in its

watershed. Fortunately, much of the watershed is undeveloped, forested areas or

wetlands that help to preserve water quality. With the construction of a sanitary sewer system around Houghton Lake in the 1970's, a primary source of pollution input to the lake was eliminated. However, much of the land adjacent to the lake has been urbanized and pollution sources such as lawn fertilizer and stormwater runoff threaten water quality.

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