diff --git a/src/main/java/gov/cms/madie/util/MappingUtil.java b/src/main/java/gov/cms/madie/util/MappingUtil.java
index 322cfee..cfd5195 100644
--- a/src/main/java/gov/cms/madie/util/MappingUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/gov/cms/madie/util/MappingUtil.java
@@ -3,9 +3,7 @@
 import com.nimbusds.oauth2.sdk.util.CollectionUtils;
 import gov.cms.madie.models.measure.BaseConfigurationTypes;
 import gov.cms.madie.models.measure.Measure;
-import gov.cms.madie.models.measure.MeasureObservation;
 import gov.cms.madie.models.measure.MeasureScoring;
-import gov.cms.madie.models.measure.Population;
 import gov.cms.madie.models.measure.PopulationType;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 
@@ -46,6 +44,14 @@ public static boolean isPopulationObservation(PopulationType populationType) {
         || populationType == PopulationType.MEASURE_POPULATION_OBSERVATION;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Fetch all descriptions for the given population type (observations are a valid possible input)
+   * Combine all descriptions for that population type with a space (not a newline)
+   *
+   * @param measure
+   * @param populationType
+   * @return
+   */
   public static String getPopulationDescription(Measure measure, PopulationType populationType) {
     if (CollectionUtils.isEmpty(measure.getGroups())) {
       return null;
@@ -64,8 +70,8 @@ public static String getPopulationDescription(Measure measure, PopulationType po
                                         .name()
                                         .equalsIgnoreCase(population.getName().name())
                                     && StringUtils.isNotBlank(population.getDescription()))
-                        .map(Population::getDescription)
-                        .collect(Collectors.joining("\n"));
+                        .map(p -> p.getDefinition().replaceAll("[\\t\\n\\r]+", " "))
+                        .collect(Collectors.joining(" "));
                   } else if (CollectionUtils.isNotEmpty(group.getMeasureObservations())
                       && isPopulationObservation(populationType)) {
                     // there is only one observation description field, so grab all available
@@ -75,13 +81,13 @@ && isPopulationObservation(populationType)) {
                             observation ->
                                 StringUtils.isNotBlank(observation.getDefinition())
                                     && StringUtils.isNotBlank(observation.getDescription()))
-                        .map(MeasureObservation::getDescription)
-                        .collect(Collectors.joining("\n"));
+                        .map(mo -> mo.getDefinition().replaceAll("[\\t\\n\\r]+", " "))
+                        .collect(Collectors.joining(" "));
                   }
                   return null;
                 })
             .filter(StringUtils::isNotBlank)
-            .collect(Collectors.joining("\n"));
+            .collect(Collectors.joining(" "));
     return StringUtils.isBlank(description) ? null : description;
   }
 }