I am in the lawn care industry and am very familiar with the problem of fertilizers.
You don't have to use chemicals to have a nice lawn. You can use low nitrogen, zero phosphorus, slow release inputs and have a great lawn. So i wouldn't immediately assume anyone with a great lawn next to the lake is part of the problem. Though they're suspect.
Readily available sources of Nitrogen in the towns surrounding the lake seems like a big problem. I was in a local hardware store today and found all of the usual brands with synthetic nitrogen and phosphorus-heavy starter fertilizers readily available.
As long as there no ordinances in place to ban N and P apps in these towns, people will continue to over-apply these elements to their lawn and they will run off into the lake. This is, at least in part, a failure of local town government.
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