A Do Not Eat advisory has been placed on all fish species in the Wissahickon Creek Basin, which spans Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.
A CBS News Philadelphia report noted that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Health Department, and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) issued the advisory on Wednesday, Oct. 7, after tissue tests on fish samples retrieved from the waterway revealed high levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) above 0.04 parts per million (ppm).
PFOS is one of a complex of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemical substances (PFAS) that can accumulate in fish tissue, according to the DEP. These compounds are also called “forever chemicals” because they build up in animal and fish blood and degrade very slowly over time.
CBS News Philadelphia notes that the advisory encompasses Montgomery and Philadelphia counties and the entire Wissahickon Creek Basin.
As a result of this announcement, the planned trout stocking in Wissahickon Creek on Oct. 15 has been canceled.
According to CBS News Philadelphia, a public meeting to discuss future stocked-trout management on Wissahickon Creek is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m. at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy’s Mill Road in Philadelphia.
The PFBC did not confirm whether PFOS had spread throughout the Schuylkill River and into fish.