(AP) -- COLUMBIA -- State biologists will start testing fish at a popular Kershaw County lake next year for a suspected cancer-causing pollutant.
The State newspaper of Columbia reports data released last month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows Lake Wateree was among 17 percent of lakes tested nationwide with elevated PCB levels in fish.
PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are manufactured chemicals. Production was banned in the late 1970s.
Federal data collected in 2001 found PBCs in largemouth bass at Lake Wateree at more than six time the federal health safety standard. EPA officials caution the sampling was limited.
The state's health and environmental agency has not routinely tested the lake's fish since 2001.
Agency officials say they will test to learn more.
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWACH