Lake management committee

Lake Leopold is a 20 acre lake excavated from local farmland in 1995 and originally filled from the local freshwater aquifer. Since then its water has come from stormwater runoff off the surrounding subdivision.

Overflow is buffered by two outlet ponds, Second Pond at one acre and Third Pond at two, and runs into Bulls Brook, a dry creek in the Liberty Prairie. During dry spells the flow is stagnant with no overflow, and the lake has an estimated retention time of two to three years. At its headwaters is Sanctuary Pond, created as a habitat for several endangered and threatened fish species.

The lake has multiple uses. Its primary job is stormwater management, complemented by the view it gives the community, and it carries recreation too: light boating, sport fishing and swimming.

On behalf of the Illinois Public Health Department, the Lake County Health Department's ecological services group measures bacteria at the Lake Leopold swimming beach twice a month through the swimming season, between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Results are reported on the Illinois Beach Guard website.

Like some other lakes in the county, the association also holds an account with LCHD laboratory services to measure bacteria after heavy rainfall, which washes material into the water and can create at-risk swimming conditions. The county lab runs the measurements; collecting the samples is the association's job.

As a precaution, harmful algal bloom cyanotoxin tests are run weekly through the swimming season whenever algae and plants are flourishing. Volunteers perform the tests and report to the board and the property manager before the weekend. If conditions call for it, an email goes out to homeowners, and further laboratory testing is available through state and commercial labs.