Fish Consumption Guidelines Tightened For Lake Elmo, Lake Harriet

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Health is advising people not to eat any fish from Lake Elmo or any smallmouth bass from Lake Harriet under its updated fish consumption guidelines.

The two lakes are among six Twin Cities area lakes and a stretch of the Mississippi River where health officials previously advised limiting consumption of certain species to one meal per month due to contamination from a chemical known as PFOS.

PFOS levels in fish for all those waters except Lake Elmo have declined over the last decade.

The department issued the new guidance Thursday because it lowered the threshold for PFOS levels at which it advises people not to eat fish at all. That resulted in the recommendation against any fish from Lake Elmo and smallmouth bass from Lake Harriet.