Onondaga Lake's Long Comeback, and Eating the Fish

Onondaga Lake sits right next to downtown Syracuse, and for a long time it carried a hard reputation. Decades of industrial waste and sewage left it heavily polluted, and it became a federal Superfund site in 1994. That is the old story most people remember.

The newer story is recovery. A large cleanup, including dredging the contaminated lake bottom that finished in 2014, plus pollution controls going back to the 1970s, has turned things around. The state now describes the lake as the cleanest it has been in over 100 years, with clearer water, more plants and wildlife, and over 65 fish species documented. Work on tributaries and upland sites continues.

It is good news with one practical footnote: fish advisories still apply because of mercury, PCBs, and dioxin in fish tissue. The lake reopened to fishing in 1986, but how much you can safely eat depends on the species, and people who can become pregnant and children get stricter advice. Before you keep a catch, check the current waterbody-specific guidance from the New York State Department of Health (Onondaga County is covered in the Finger Lakes region advisories). You can also follow cleanup progress through NYSDEC.