The water on Tainter Lake is green, and it's not for Saint Patrick ’s Day.

"This is probably a good day for Tainter Lake, what we're looking at. On certain days it gets much worse," says Buzz Sorge of the Department of National Resources.

This cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, has been a problem for nearly three decades. But in recent years, more phosphorus run-off from homes and farms has caused the bacteria to multiply, and it's making those who live nearby sick.

"We've had migraine headaches, diarrhea, sneezing, coughing, all these symptoms,” says Peggy MacAloon, who bought a retirement home on Tainter Lake a few years back. She says she suffers from lupus, which makes the symptoms worse.

And you don't need to go in the water to get sick. MacAloon says she became ill after breathing in the spores.

“We need to reduce the public health threat right now," says MacAloon.

The Tainter Menomin Lake Improvement Association is trying to raise awareness of the problem by discussing the environmental and economic issues with legislators.

"We had to keep looking for ways to reduce that phosphorus output, moving forward with the residents but also the agricultural community, too, that doesn't put anybody out of business, either," says State Senator Pat Kreitlow.

The DNR says it hopes to reduce the algae by fifty percent, but needs everyone's help in reducing the amount of phosphorus fertilizers used.

"The problem is very solvable, and the goals are very realistic here, and we can alleviate a lot of these water quality problems that are associated with the lake," says Sorge.

For those who live and boat on Tainter Lake, the day they stop seeing green can't come soon enough.

There currently is a bill introduced by Senator Feingold in the U.S. Senate called the Clean Water Restoration Act, which could help fund incentives for farmers who don't use phosphorus fertilizers.

Though, legislators we spoke to today say with the economy, environmental issues might not be the top priority in state or federal governments.