For decades flooding in Day County's chain of lakes has been a problem.
In just the last 20 years some of the lakes have grown by several thousand acres.
All of that water has become a problem for the community of Waubay, which sits on the shore of Bitter Lake and two others.
"You just gotta take it day by day and do what you can do," Local farmer Chuck Gaikowski said.
For 53 years dairy farmer Chuck Gaikowski has operated this farm just south of Waubay.
It's land that's been in his family for generations.
But what used to be more than 1500 acres of fertile fields is now part of a 19,000 acre lake.
"Back in 76' this lake was dry, I used to go across it with a motorcycle with a white cloud of dust behind me," Gaikowski said.
Frozen ice and shanties now occupy that same land.
The ice makes up Bitter Lake; the last in the chain of lakes located in Day County.
The lake first started to take shape in mid-90s after a lawsuit required high water levels from lakes to the north be routed into a slough through a culvert under Highway 12.
The slough continued to grow thanks to wet springs and snowy winters.
With no outlet the slough grew into what is now known as bitter lake, swallowing up acres of land over the years.
"When these farmers start losing upwards of 1500 acres, due to flooding, it's really devastating to them and to us as a county," Waubay Mayor, Kevin Jens said.
What's more devastating for the Gaikowskis; they're still paying taxes on land under 30 feet of water.
Each year, Day County taxes the Gaikowski's more than 10,000 dollars on land that will most likely never yield hay or crops ever again.
Day County Director of Equalization Gary Schlotte says all land in the county is taxed no matter the circumstance.
Over the last few years Gaikowski says the water has seriously impacted his operation killing hundreds of cattle and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to his dairy farm.
Gaikowski and his family built a 1.5 million dollar facility farther away from the lake to continue farming.
But if the lake keeps rising the new facility will be destroyed and his family's way of life may come to an end.
"We need to come up with a solution as to what we can do with this water, to stabilize the lake so we can all continue to live here," Jens said.
Kevin Jens has been the mayor of Waubay for 12 years.
He says during that time about 200 people in the town of what used to be 600 have left, mostly because of flooding.
Waubay is surrounded by water on three sides.
Blue Dog Lake has already consumed dozens of homes on the north side.
Little rush lake is creeping into city limits on the west side of town.
Bitter lake has forced the evacuation of at least eight homes.
16 years ago, bitter lake covered less than 37-hundred acres.
According to Day County Natural Resource Conservation statistics, it now spans more than 19,000 acres because of no natural outlet.
"Right now this water is here to stay until we find an answer to it as far as trying to move some of this water out of this watershed," Jens said.
According to Jens, people in town have been working on a solution to try and stabilize Bitter Lake.
He says he doesn't want to pass the water to the west along the James River or to the east along the Big Sioux River.
Jens says he'd rather work with other communities to try and alleviate Waubay's problem and not cause another.
"We've seen what the damage as at levels right now, and we will probably see even more damage as these lake levels continue to rise," Jens said.
People of Waubay are hoping for a solution.
As for Chuck Gaikowski, he just hopes to hold onto the land he still has, and one day see the land he only remembers.
According to state law anyone can boat or ice fish on public waterways if they access the water by legal means.
The law states that just as long as their not touching the ground the taxpayer is paying on.
Several meetings for solutions to pump the water out were discussed.
State officials say projected costs aren't sustainable.
