State asks for help in fight against zebra mussels

Hello zebra mussel. Goodbye Texas lakes.

That is the message the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, along with a group of Texas water utilities, is bringing to the public with its re-launched zebra mussel awareness campaign.

On May 24, representatives from the agency gathered at Lake Lavon to demonstrate how to properly clean, drain and dry a boat after it hits land -- the first line of defense in preventing cross-contamination between bodies of water.

The only Texas water source currently contaminated by the mussel is Lake Texoma. But if boaters don't properly maintain their boats between trips, it could spread to lakes such as Lavon, compromising the entire Trinity River Basin, said TPWD spokesman Brian Van Zee.

"It's a very simple technique to clean, drain and dry your boat," he said. "It doesn't take a lot of time."

Zebra mussels, named for their distinctive striped pattern, have made a formidable enemy for the 29 states they've invaded due to their rapid rate of reproduction -- ranging from 30,000 to 1 million per year. In addition, the microscopic size of the mussel's infant form, the veliger, makes it easy to unknowingly transport the species, and they are nearly impossible to eradicate once present in a body of water, according to literature from TPWD.

North Texas residents best know the zebra mussel as the species whose presence in Texoma has caused the North Texas Municipal Water District to stop pumping from that lake in August 2009, cutting off 28 percent of the district's raw water supply.

The mussels do not compromise water quality, but they do attach themselves to any hard surfaces and can clog transmission pipelines, reducing the flow of transferable water from any reservoir they infest. Because of this, NTMWD has dedicated both time and money to the new campaign, said spokeswoman Denise Hickey.

The water district will remain in some stage of its water management strategy, which currently limits outdoor watering to two days per week and from September to March limited it to twice a month, as long as Texoma is offline, Hickey said. A pipeline directly to the district's pump station is hoped to provide a means to resume pumping, though it is not scheduled for completion until summer 2013.

"Our water models showed if we had Texoma online during the last drought period, yes, we would have had some drought restrictions, but they may not have got as severe," she said. "Losing Texoma, coupled with the drought, we had to initiate more stringent water management strategies. As a result, our customers are still experiencing the effects of that presence of the zebra mussels."

The re-launch of the campaign coincides with new regulations enacted May 17, which add invasive species that are invisible to the naked eye -- such as veligers -- to the list of species prohibited from being transferred from one body of water to another. First-time violations of the rule could mean up to $500 in fines, and repeated violations can net fines in the thousands and even jail time.

"The larva of zebra mussels are ... microscopic in size," Van Zee said. "You cannot see them with the naked eye. You have to look at the water underneath a microscope. Because of that, we felt like it was really necessary to strengthen the fact that boaters need to make sure they drain all the water out of their boats before they leave Lake Texoma."

The $220,000 campaign, paid for by the TPWD and participating water utilities, encompasses billboards, stencils on boat ramps at Lake Texoma, radio ads, and posters and floor mats at gas stations.

"We're trying to just cover as many different outlets as we can to inform the public about zebra mussels and the threat that they are to not only to our aquatic resources, but also the hindrance that they are to aquatic recreation and even to municipal and industrial water supplies," Van Zee said.

Not only do zebra mussels pose a considerable threat to water systems, Van Zee said, but they disrupt the ecosystems of every body of water that they infest.

"They filter out the zooplankton and phytoplankton out of the water body, so essentially what they're doing is they're removing the beginning phases of the aquatic food chain," he said. "By decreasing the zooplankton and phytoplankton that are available in the water, they can have impacts also on the forage base and the sporefish populations as well in these reservoirs."

Cleaning of the boat should occur as soon as the boat is loaded on to its trailer, Van Zee said. Any vegetation, mud, mussels or other foreign objects should be cleaned from the boat, and the plug on the bottom of the boat should be pulled and motor lowered to drain any excess water. The boat, along with any livewells or bait buckets, should also be drained and allowed to dry for up to a week before re-entering the water.

"If it's not possible to let it sit and dry, then going to a commercial car wash and using a high-pressure washer [or] hot soapy water is also beneficial in helping to clean and remove anything from your boat," Van Zee said. "Hot water [at] 140 degrees Fahrenheit and warmer is very effective at killing zebra mussels."

For information on the campaign and how to prevent the spread of zebra mussels and other invasive species, visit www.texasinvasives.org.

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