Invasive mussel confirmed in Utah's Electric Lake

[November 20, 2008]  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Trouble-making zebra mussels have arrived in Utah. But not where they were expected to show up.

Electric Lake is Utah's first body of water where the damaging, nonnative mussels have been confirmed, state wildlife officials said Wednesday.

The officials said they were surprised the fast-spreading mussels appeared there first because it's a high-elevation lake with relatively few boaters. It is boaters who sometimes unknowingly transport the mussels from lake to lake on their crafts.

Most expected the mussels to show up first at Lake Powell.

The mussels "showed up in one of the least-expected places," said Larry Dalton, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "That's how bewildering this little devil is."

Zebra mussels and their cousins, quagga mussels, were inadvertently introduced into the Great Lakes about 20 years ago. They reproduce and spread rapidly, threatening food sources for fish and clogging machinery and water pipes.

The mussels are difficult to remove from boats and, once established in a lake or reservoir, are nearly impossible to eradicate.

Electric Lake, which is in Emery County, is the headwaters for the Huntington River and the main water source for Rocky Mountain Power's Huntington generation plant, which is about 15 miles downstream from the lake. The lake, which sits above 8,500 feet, was built in the 1970s to provide cooling water for the plant.

Dalton said the mussels will hurt the lake's fishery and could damage the generation plant and plug up irrigation pipes in the area.

Dave Eskelsen, a spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power, said company officials are aware of the state's findings and are in the early stages of discussions about what to do next.

"What we know is they're extremely invasive and early warning is best," he said. "It presents certainly some difficult challenges."

So far, the mussels have only been spotted in their youngest stages, both under a microscope and through two separate DNA tests. No infestations of adults, which grow to about the size of a fingernail, have been found at the lake, Dalton said.

It's unclear how the zebra mussels made it to Electric Lake.

Dalton says they've likely been there more than a year, since those that were detected were young offspring. The lake's boat ramp has only been sporadically operable in recent years so boats seem to be a less-likely culprit.

Instead, Dalton said, some are theorizing that trucks using hoses to suck water from the lake may have inadvertently dumped mussels that were living in leftover water inside the tanks.

"That is, in our view, the most likely pathway," Dalton said. "But we're only making our best guess."

He said officials plan to look more closely at a possible connection between other Utah waters suspected of having zebra mussels and water-sucking trucks -- particularly those used in the oil-and-gas industry.

State officials suspect zebra mussels may also be in eight other bodies of water in Utah, including Lake Powell.

If they infest the whole state, it could cost $15 million a year in extra maintenance to keep the state's complex network of water delivery systems working properly, Dalton said. There are localized fixes, including a chlorine drip and certain kinds of metal coatings, which can keep mussels away.

It's time to start considering some of those options, Dalton said, because the odds are that zebra mussels will show up elsewhere in the state.

"There's no one in Utah that's going to turn a blind eye to this," he said.

[Associated Press; By MIKE STARK]

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