Colorado anglers and their families should strictly limit fish consumption from catches at popular lakes such as Chatfield Reservoir and Barr Lake because of increased risk of ingesting PFAS “forever chemicals” and mercury, according to new state maps and health warnings issued Thursday.
The state health department’s fishing advisory maps added new warnings for areas contaminated by a PFAS variant called perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS. The toxic chemicals, which never break down in nature and can’t be washed out, gather in the flesh of common game fish like walleye and smallmouth bass.
The new state maps say, for example, that while the Food and Drug Administration recommends a healthy diet include two to three servings of fish a week, no one should eat more than one serving a month of smallmouth bass caught at Chatfield.
A whistleblower and watchdog advocacy group used an EPA database of locations that may have handled PFAS materials or products to map the potential impact of PFAS throughout Colorado. They found about 21,000 Colorado locations in the EPA listings, which were uncovered through a freedom of information lawsuit. (Source: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility analysis of EPA database)Jump to an interactive map and more information below.
Click here for more advisory information from colorado.gov.
“Fish are an excellent source of lean protein and provide key nutrients, but some fish can absorb pollutants such as mercury and PFAS from their environment,” the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment advisory says. “Neither cooking nor cleaning fish removes these substances.”
Environmental advocates like the expansion of information available from the state, but also want public officials to do more in combatting PFAS.
While CDPHE has been leading in testing and evaluating, “our frustration lies in the fact that warning the public that it is there is no longer enough — we need solutions to the cumulative risks we now know are real,” said Bonnie Rader, director of Citizens for Lowry Landfill Environmental Action Now that advocates for cleanup of PFAS and other contamination. “Suggesting that people limit their intake of fish due to the PFAS and mercury being found in the fish cannot be guaranteed to protect the public — not everyone will read, believe or understand the warnings.”
The state could do more by actually closing contaminated fishing areas, and working hard to discover and deploy technologies that can destroy PFAS in the environment, Rader said.
“We are only just now beginning to understand the negative impacts of PFAS on humans. The time for study to learn if the impacts exist is over, the time for action — treatment and cleanup — is now,” she said.
“No one wants a helping of mercury or PFAS forever chemicals with their fish. These warnings are helpful so people can avoid fishing in places with higher levels of these dangerous chemicals,” CoPIRG’s Danny Katz said. “The ultimate solution is to eliminate the sources of mercury and PFAS so they aren’t getting into our ecosystems, our food supply and our bodies in the first place.”
Public health agencies, city water departments, fire departments and countless other public bodies are spending billions of dollars mitigating near-universal damage from PFAS, a family of waterproofing chemicals used widely in consumer products like stain-resistant carpet, raincoats and plastics since the 1950s. Runoff and decomposing trash have sent the chemicals everywhere, including drinking water supplies for many Coloradans, and national tests have shown PFAS in the bloodstream of all humans.
Higher levels of PFAS can cause health impacts ranging from higher cholesterol, to pregnancy problems, and higher cancer risk.
The Biden administration set tough drinking water standards for certain variants of PFAS, forcing water agencies to get the chemicals down to nearly undetectable levels by 2029. The Trump administration erased some PFAS limits, but kept limits on PFOS and PFOA, though it delayed enforcement on water agencies until 2031.
The Colorado health department said it has tested for PFAS contamination in fish since 2020, and sampled six bodies of water in 2023. “PFOS levels high enough to warrant advisories were found in fish from Barr Lake, Runyon Lake and Chatfield Reservoir,” the state said.
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In testing from the summer and fall of 2020, the Sun previously reported, Colorado found PFAS in 100% of the fish it sampled from previously known contaminated waterbodies in El Paso, Jefferson and Adams counties.
In that study, staff from the Colorado health department, the Colorado School of Mines, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife collected 49 fish across 10 species in the summer and fall of 2020, according to a new summary of the study. They sampled fish from Willow Springs Pond in Fountain, in El Paso County; Mann-Nyholt Lake in Henderson, in Adams County; and Tabor Lake in Wheatridge, in Jefferson County.
The sites were chosen in part because they are popular fishing spots where anglers often eat their catch.
In Thursday’s map release, the state said it has been testing for mercury in Colorado fish since 2004. Mercury levels also vary by fishing source, and specific comments and warnings can be found on the interactive state map.
“Our fish advisories help people make informed decisions about what kinds of fish to eat and where to catch them,” said Nicole Rowan, director of the health department’s Water Quality Control Division.
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