Recent findings from the Ala­bama Department of Public Health may cause anglers to pause before dining on their catch.

But anglers who like the lo­cal waters of Autauga and El­more counties can fish carefree, state officials said.

In the ADPH's 2007 Alabama Fish Consumption Advisories, 38 different sites in Alabama were flagged for contamination levels high enough to warrant restrictions on fish taken from their waters. The most common contaminants were mercury and PCBs, although chlordane and DDT were also found at two sites.

A total of 11 sites were tested and received an all-clear. One of those was Elmore County's Thurlow Reservoir, near Tallas­see.

The Alabama River -- or at least the parts of it that border Elmore and Autauga counties -- was on neither list. It was not tested in 2007, but state officials said the river is typically clean.

"Since I've been here, we've never found anything in Autau­ga or Elmore counties," said state toxicologist Dr. Neil Sass.

State officials cited the mas­sive amount of territory they must cover as the reason all bod­ies of water are not tested annu­ally.

"There are 77,000 miles of navigable water in Alabama," said Sass. "What we've done is divide up the state into five ma­jor basins. If we don't find any­thing, we go back and check five years later. We also take tips from the public."

"It started out as testing where we knew there would be likely contamination of fish," said Cheryl Browder, toxicology program manager for the Alaba­ma Department of Public Health. "We'd test downstream from paper mills, where dioxins were produced. We don't test all the waters of the state, just the areas of risk."

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