Or, as an expert on the science of lakes told the State Journal last week: "We need to get the political will to solve the real problems."

That comment by Dick Lathrop, a limnologist who works with the state and UW-Madison, bodes well for the two clean lakes projects — Yahara CLEAN and the Yahara Lakes Legacy Partnership.

It indicates a sense of urgency.

Urgency is required because Madison's lakes last year were threatened with being placed on the state list of impaired waters. Though the lakes avoided the list, the city's beaches were tagged with the impaired label.

What's needed now is follow-through on the sense of urgency. Community leaders will have to make sure these new projects don't disintegrate into endless study-and-debate societies.

Yahara CLEAN, which stands for the Yahara Capitol Lakes Environmental Assessment and Needs project, should produce the most immediate results.

Yahara CLEAN is a two-year agreement between the state and local governments to reduce runoff pollutants into the Madison-area lakes.

Runoff pollutants — especially fertilizer and manure from farms and soil from construction sites — are a chief cause of the algae, weeds and silt that foul the lakes.

The second project, Yahara Lakes Legacy Partnership, has a longer term goal: to engage the public in creating a plan to better manage the lakes in the future.

The plan is to detail steps and expectations and spell out who is responsible and where the money will come from.

Dane County has made praiseworthy progress in recent years toward improving the forecast for the lakes. Limits on phosphorus lawn fertilizer and increased regulation of farm manure are examples.

But several ideas for cleaning up the lakes have failed to progress from the drawing board. As Jim Lorman, chairman of the Yahara Lakes Legacy Partnership, noted, "There are obviously a whole lot of plans out there that haven't gone very far."

Let Lorman's words be a warning to the leaders of the two new efforts.

The Madison area needs to discuss and debate plans to address the lakes' condition. And it needs to make sure any solutions are based on sound science.

But what area and its lakes need more than anything is — results.