Both the main part of Fountain Lake and Edgewater Bay have been found to be unsuitable for swimming and recreation, according to monitoring data collected by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency posted on a Web site powered by the nonprofit Conservation Minnesota organization.

The Web site — www.checkmylake.org — allows people to find out whether lakes around the state are clean or polluted, or whether they have been tested. It also includes whether the fish caught in the state’s lakes are safe to eat.

This is the second year for the site.

To find a specific lake, people can type in the name of a lake or type in a county on the main page, which will then pull up a list of all the lakes in that county.

According to the MPCA, only 14 percent of Minnesota streams and 18 percent of Minnesota lakes larger than 10 acres have been tested. Of those tested, about 40 percent of waters are found to be “impaired.”

Though the site did not include specific reasons as to why the main part of Fountain Lake and Edgewater Bay were unsuitable, it did include a general statement: “Lakes that are not suitable for recreation often have excessive algae, plant growth or even slime. This is often the result of pollution from phosphorus or nitrogen, which comes from sewage, fertilizers, animal waste or other sources.”

It stated the fish in Fountain Lake have not been tested; however, since none of Minnesota’s lakes tested so far have proven safe, people should follow the Minnesota Department of Health guidelines for consuming fish from Minnesota lakes.

The site lists the main area as the east bay and Edgewater Bay as the west bay. The north bay of Fountain Lake, named Bancroft Bay, has not yet been tested.

The following is a summary of monitoring results of other Freeborn County lakes:

 Albert Lea Lake: Monitoring results found this lake to be unsuitable for swimming and recreation.

The fish in this lake have not been tested.

Bear Lake: The Web site states that initial testing has raised concerns about the ability of this lake to support swimming and recreation throughout the year. More testing is needed.

It continued: “Although there are not enough data to clearly determine whether this lake fully supports recreation, initial testing suggests that it has water quality problems and may not be suitable for recreation for much of the summer or periodically.”

The fish in the lake have not yet been tested, and according to the site, the lake has an invasive aquatic plant species called curly-leaf pondweed.

Pickerel Lake: Monitoring results found this lake to be unsuitable for swimming and recreation.

This fish in this lake have not been tested.

 State Line Lake: The Web site states that just like Bear Lake, initial testing has raised concerns about the ability of this lake to support swimming and recreation throughout the year. More testing is needed.

The fish in this lake have not been tested.

 Other lakes in Freeborn County, including Freeborn Lake and Geneva Lake, were not yet on the Web site.

Paul Austin, executive director with Conservation Minnesota, said having this data on hand empowers people to make decisions affecting their health.

“Our 10,000 lakes help define Minnesota for all of us who live here,” Austin said.

Merlene Stiles with the Minnesota Environmental Partnership echoed that sentiment.

“I feel that awareness is important, that we should know about our lakes,” Stiles said. “If they are polluted, we should work to clean them up. If they haven’t been tested yet, they should be tested.

“It’s important to get them tested and then figure out where the pollution is coming from and how we can get rid of it.”

She said that’s why she is so pleased the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed last November, as one-third of the money from this amendment will be appropriated by the Legislature to test and clean up waters.

The data from MPCA included on the Check My Lake Web site is the most recent data released by the state agency, according to a Conservation Minnesota communications spokesman. It was officially compiled in 2008, though it might include tests from earlier dates.