From Deseret News archives:
Zebra mussel DNA found in Electric Lake
Organism can rob fish of food, clog drinking-water pipes
The big questions now are where else they are and how to stop them from spreading?
Division of Wildlife Resources' Larry Dalton said Wednesday anyone who drinks water or goes fishing in Utah could be affected by the spread of zebra mussels to other bodies of water. Once established, adult mussels no bigger than a person's thumbnail can rob a lake of plankton that fish need for food or clog pipes needed to distribute drinking water.
"This is a very big deal," Dalton said. "And it's a teeny mussel that's doing it."
Rigorous testing at two labs in Colorado that began Sept. 10 finally came back positive Nov. 14 for the presence of zebra mussel DNA in Electric Lake, located in central Utah. It's one of 150 lakes Dalton said he'd like to monitor throughout the state, but his budget this past year has afforded testing of only 54 lakes.
There have been "negative" test results indicating no mussels in Bear Lake, Pineview Reservoir, Willard Bay, Utah Lake, Jordanelle and Strawberry reservoirs, Yuba Lake, Fish Lake, Otter Creek, Sand Hollow and Quail Creek reservoirs and the Mammouth and Scofield reservoirs.
"It's very complicated and there's a lot of work out there being done," Dalton said.
The mussels start out microscopic in size and by the time they're about 4 millimeters, roughly the size of a sunflower seed, they can breed. Adults range in size of about 15 millimeters to 20 millimeters.
Electric Lake is above 8,000 feet elevation and cold to frigid throughout most of the year, and in recent years seldom used by boats any larger than one that could fit on the top of a car, Dalton said. All of that added up to Dalton figuring that Electric Lake would have been one of the least likely places mussels would have shown up first in Utah.
Exactly where they came from is still a mystery, but one theory Dalton put forward is that industrial activity in and around the lake could be the culprit. Specifically, drilling by the energy industry or at the dam involves the use of water trucks. Dalton said any one of those water trucks could have hauled water from an infested source outside of Utah. There has been a lot of oil, gas and coal activity in recent years around Electric Lake, whose dam also needed work to fix a leak, he said.
Recent comments
About the ZM source you are all wrong: Have George Bush and/or Dick...
Aqua Lung | Nov. 20, 2008 at 4:33 p.m.
Zebra Mussels would need water to survive the trip from the...
re: engineer | Nov. 20, 2008 at 3:43 p.m.
there are two huntington reservoirs upper and lower
upper is in...
RE:incorrect facts... | Nov. 20, 2008 at 2:59 p.m.
- RSL will play for MLS Cup tonight 3:06 a.m.
- Jazz outlast Pistons in overtime 3:06 a.m.
- Utah Utes whip SDSU 3:05 a.m.
- BYU records with win 3:05 a.m.
- RSL dancing with soccer stars 3:04 a.m.
- Cougars turn focus to dreaded rivals 3:04 a.m.
- Dixie State campus briefs 3:03 a.m.
- Weber State campus briefs 3:02 a.m.
- UVU campus briefs 3:01 a.m.
- BYU campus briefs 2:59 a.m.
- Glenn Beck to enter politics?
- BYU records with win
- Police link alcohol to murder
- Can BYU throw vs. Air Force?
- Huntsman blasts media over trip
- Christian leaders not backing down
- Memo out again tonight for Jazz
- Cougars cruise to victory in Hawaii
- Jazz outlast Pistons in overtime
- Nephi's steel bow difficult to replicate
- Buttars wants to limit gay rights laws
193 - Palin plans tour stop in Utah
173 - Glenn Beck to enter politics?
148 - Palin's book shows she's unqualified
122 - Officer cleared in Cardall Taser case
103 - BYU cuts Women's Research Inst.
100 - Jazz finally win in San Antonio
98 - BYU records with win
98 - Utes knock off rival Aggies
93 - Huntsman pleased with Obama
87
A little after midnight Wednesday morning, about 21 hours ago as I write...
There's a lot of reason to leave your plastic home as you shop:
The young utes have shown improvement in each game. That is what good coaches...
I agree about Will, he is una maquina de futbol sent from the future. I sure...
As an avid Cougar fan, I'm embarrassed by a couple of these posts....
I see what you did there....
LIBERAL LEFTIES CAN MOCK BECK ALL THEY WANT......BECK IS STILL MORE ETHICAL...
I love these right wingers that talk about "AMPLE OIL SUPPLIES". I always...
It has been frustrating to watch UDOT build these new free-way interchanges...
Only the NOW could argue that perpetrators are really victims....
In high school. I think lunch break so there were kids milling around when we...
I picked us too Yura, RSL 3 gals 1. Good luck tonight fellas.


