It was a beautiful summer day for the Owasco Lake Day Festival Sunday. Problem is, those conditions are exactly what is needed to produce harmful algae blooms.

"The perfect formula seems to be a very still day, like today," said Peter Rogers, an Owasco Lake Watershed Association board member. "A warm day, like today, about this time of year."

None were seen on Sunday, but they've been an issue over the past few years. Now, the Owasco Lake Watershed Association is making a plan to address it.

"It's a long time solution, we can't turn it off overnight, but we're getting there," said Rick Nelson, another Watershed Association board member.

According to the Auburn Citizen, the Watershed Association has drafted the first set of enforceable lake water quality rules since the early ‘80s. Coupled with their research, they say these regulations could cut down on those harmful algae and other pollutants in Owasco Lake.

"The health of the water, the quality of the water, is vital to everybody's wellbeing," Nelson said.

Because the lake is so crucial to thousands around Auburn, the Association is hosting public meetings before their final draft comes out in July. The first of those meetings will be August 13.

They really want to get it right, because more than just drinking water, Owasco Lake affects everything around it.

"It affects people coming not wanting to boat and recreate and swim in the water," Nelson said. "Then people don’t come and rent cabins on the lake. It's just a multi-faceted issue that we're just trying to protect this vital resource.”