Pennsylvanians advised to not eat fish from this local creek
· Yahoo News(WHTM)– Pennsylvanians are being asked not to eat any fish from a Midstate creek.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Department of Health, and the Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) have issued a “Do Not Eat’ advisory for all species of fish in Middle Spring Creek, which spans parts of Franklin and Cumberland counties, and Briar Creek in Columbia County.
According to the DEP, the advisory follows high levels of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) being found in the water. The DEP said PFOS is a “forever chemical” that was found in sampled fish tissue above the 0.04 parts per million “do not eat” advisory level.
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“Protecting public health is a top priority for us. Advisories like these are not something that we recommend lightly and DEP will continue to sample fish species and revisit this recommendation in the future,” said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. “DEP is investigating the source of the PFOS pollution in these creeks through the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act program, one of the vital services this program provides.”
The DEP said 30 point-of-entry filtration systems have been installed at properties in the Briar Creek watershed, and another 24 will be installed in the Middle Spring watershed to give residents clean drinking water.
The PFBC said it will discontinue trout stocking in the impacted waters until further notice. While fishing is permitted in impacted streams, fishers should still follow the advisory.
“Whenever a stream, or lake, is removed from our trout stocking list, we make every effort to keep the fish local and stock them in nearby waters for anglers to enjoy,” said Tim Schaeffer, PFBC Executive Director. “We intend to do the same in this case.”
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The Middle Spring Creek advisory extends to the entire watershed.
More information regarding the investigation can be found online.
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