[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Items for 8/24/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

August 24, 2007

 

1.  Top Items

 

Guarding against 'outlaw' mussels; Water officials hope to limit spread after invasive shellfish found - San Diego Union Tribune

 

Invasion of quagga mussels has begun - San Diego Union Tribune

 

 

Guarding against 'outlaw' mussels; Water officials hope to limit spread after invasive shellfish found

San Diego Union Tribune – 8/24/07

By Terry Rodgers and J. Harry Jones, staff writers

 

Regional water officials are testing water, handing out fliers and, at one reservoir, banning private boats to control the spread of a tiny mussel that can foul pumps and pipelines and alter freshwater ecosystems.

 

The quagga mussels, shellfish that are smaller than a fingernail and multiply quickly, have been discovered at San Vicente Reservoir near Lakeside. Officials believe the mussel also has invaded Escondido's Dixon Lake but are awaiting test results.

 

Even though there is no evidence of the mussel at Lake Wohlford, a popular fishing spot, the city of Escondido has temporarily banned private boats there as a precaution.

 

The shellfish are not being viewed as a significant threat to the water supply, but if left unchecked, they could become a massive and expensive nuisance.

 

Billions of dollars have been spent trying to control mussels in the Great Lakes that fill and block water pipes and power plant systems. Officials say the only way to kill the mussels is to dry them out or poison them with chlorine, but they can't chlorinate large bodies of water because it is too toxic. Until this year, the mussels had never been found west of the Continental Divide.

 

Quagga mussels are native to Russia and Ukraine, and are believed to have traveled to the United States to Lake Erie on transoceanic ships in the late 1980s.

 

In January, the mussel was found in Lake Mead. Officials think it hitched a ride on a private boat shuttled from the Great Lakes by trailer. Lake Mead, which straddles Nevada and Arizona, is a major power and water source for Southern California.

 

The Metropolitan Water District taps Lake Mead for water delivered via the Colorado River. The mussel was first found in California in Lake Havasu, downstream from Mead and a short distance from the Colorado River Aqueduct intake. It also has invaded other California reservoirs including Lake Skinner in Winchester, east of Temecula.

 

Metropolitan, the region's main water supplier, has already spent more than $3 million this year on efforts – so far unsuccessful – to keep the mussel from spreading.

 

The County Water Authority recently formed a task force to assess the threat to local reservoirs, said Gary Eaton, the agency's director of operations. Water samples are being taken countywide.

 

“If they are confirmed, we want to go after them aggressively,” Eaton said yesterday during a water authority meeting.

 

In May, a state science advisory panel released a report concluding that the scope of the problem is vast.

 

“The significance and potential impact of this event cannot be overstated,” the report states. “The potential impacts include hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in direct economic costs, along with large but unquantified indirect economic and environmental costs.”

 

Local water officials revealed Tuesday that the mussels had been found at San Vicente Reservoir. The same day, Jay Cowan, supervising ranger at Lake Wohlford, said he discovered quagga mussels at Dixon Lake as he was working on a project and diving at the lake's boat dock.

 

“I figured since they found them at Skinner a few weeks ago, I may as well look and see if they were in Dixon,” Cowan said.

 

“In five minutes' time, I found three of them.”

 

Escondido Utilities Manager Mary Ann Mann said the results of laboratory testing are expected early next week.

 

Experts had expected to have several years to prepare for the invasion, but “it looks like the genie is out of the bottle now,” Cowan said.

 

Bill Knutsen, board member of the County Water Authority, said yesterday, “You will never eliminate the quagga mussel – you can only hope to control it.”

 

Dixon Lake's water comes from the Colorado aqueduct, which has already been infiltrated by the mussels; Lake Wohlford's water comes from Lake Henshaw, which so far has not reported any.

 

Hoping to keep Lake Wohlford mussel-free, Escondido city officials have banned private boats from that reservoir until Tuesday. After that, all personal boats will be washed with heated high-pressure equipment that the city is borrowing from the state until it can buy its own, Mann said.

 

Dixon Lake has always been restricted to boats rented from the city on site.

 

The city of San Diego, which operates nine reservoirs, including San Vicente, has been testing for quagga but has not imposed any restrictions on private motorboats, said Kurt Kidman, water department spokesman.

 

“We are not planning on restricting usage at this time, but we may once we see the results of the testing,” Kidman said.

 

Nelson Manville, the San Diego lakes program supervisor, said he's asking boaters at San Vicente Reservoir to empty their bilges and wash down the boats before leaving.

 

Yesterday, a brightly colored sign at the reservoir described the odd-sounding creatures as “outlaws,” saying they were “not wanted.”

 

The sandwich board, positioned at the top of a boat launch ramp, showed a photo of a tiny quagga mussel laid on top of a positioned at the top of a boat launch ramp, showed a photo of a tiny quagga mussel laid on top of a quarter. The mussel was less than half the size of the coin.

 

San Diego city water officials were handing out fliers to boaters at San Vicente to warn them about the quagga.

 

Asked if he had heard of the quagga mussel, Joe Kling, 62, of Poway jokingly motioned to his arm muscle and asked if that's what a reporter was referring to.

 

Kling, who was preparing to hit the reservoir's waters with friends in a 19-foot boat in search of bass, said he heard about the mussels a few months ago.

 

“I am concerned,” he said. “But it's not going to ruin my life. What do you do?”

 

Kling's friend Scott Wingo, 36, of San Diego said, “It doesn't really affect us except you may have to scrape it off your boat.”  #

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070824-9999-1n24mussel.html

 

 

Invasion of quagga mussels has begun

San Diego Union Tribune – 8/24/07

By Ed Zieralski, staff writer

 

Some lake managers like Jay Cowan at Lake Wohlford thought they had a few years to prepare.

 

Other managers like Hugh Marx at Lake Jennings expected it sooner, warning the Helix Water District a few months ago that the quagga mussel invasion could hit San Diego County soon.

 

Turns out Marx was right. Quagga mussels, fingernail-sized invasive mollusks that breed like wildfire and can ruin fisheries and water systems, have made their way into the county, theoretically through the California Aqueduct. They've been found in San Vicente and Dixon Lake, the latter pending official identification today. On Tuesday, Cowan found what he believes are four adult quagga mussels during two separate dives at Dixon. San Diego city divers found them during “plankton tows.”

 

Recreation already has been impacted and water districts now face a major battle.

 

At Wohlford, private boating, kayaking, float-tubing and wading all have been suspended through Monday, even though Wohlford isn't on the state aqueduct system and gets its water from Lake Henshaw and canals connected to the San Luis Rey River.

 

Cowan hopes to borrow the Department of Fish and Game's high-pressure power spray that his lake staff will use to disinfect boats at Wohlford and get ready for the Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest boating weekends of the year. A disinfectant system is planned for Dixon if boaters bring their own trolling motors or anchors for the lake's rental boats.

 

At San Vicente, boaters are being urged to completely empty their bilges before leaving the lake. All boats must be cleaned before leaving, according to Nelson Manville, city lakes program supervisor.

 

At Jennings, Marx sent his staff a heads up a few months ago to alert them that any discovery of quagga mussels in the county would have a huge effect on how lake managers operate fisheries. His message was prophetic.

 

Marx predicts that if quagga mussels are allowed to spread, the environmental effects and impacts on recreation at lakes will be devastating. Fish populations will crash because mussels eat the same things as newly hatched fish. They also cleanse the water as they eat because they act as filters.

 

“Recreational fishing will require supplemental stocking to maintain a fishery,” Marx said. “Increased water clarity will allow sunlight to penetrate deeper, causing aquatic plants and algae to proliferate. The algae can produce taste and odor problems.”

 

Marx said one impact on recreation might be that the Department of Fish and Game will prohibit boat transports into California and between Southern and Northern California to prevent the spread to the Sacramento Delta and Lake Tahoe. That certainly would impact tournament bass fishing. #

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/outdoors/20070824-9999-1s24outdoors.html

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