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<br />RECLAMATION <br />Managi/1g Water in the West <br />The Regional Report <br /> <br />Jan. 17,2008 <br />LOWER COLORADO REGION <br /> <br />Back to <br />home Daae <br /> <br />Miniature pest, giant problem causing <br />havoc in Southwest <br /> <br />They have been clogging power plant and water system intakes <br />throughout the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system for several <br />years, but were unknown in the waterways of western states. Then, in <br />January 2007, they were discovered in Lake Mead. <br /> <br />"They" are <br />the ecosystem- <br />threatening, pipe- <br />plugging, <br />menacing aquatic <br />pests that threaten <br />to wreak havoc <br />on the west's <br />drinking -water <br />, systems. <br />Are you <br />confused about <br />this group called <br />"they?" <br />"They" are <br />the fast-growing <br />mollusks known as quagga mussels, which have apparently out- <br />hitchhiked their pesky cousin - the zebra mussel - to inhabit the <br />western states. <br />Native to Ukraine, the mussels were first found in North America <br />18 years ago in Lake Erie. They apparently <br />hitchhiked to the United States in the ballast water <br />of oceangoing ships. <br /> <br /> <br />;....n. <br />'.'1'.- <br /> <br />Young quagga mussels. LCR photo courtesy of <br />Leonard Willett <br /> <br />Quagga mussel. Photo courtesy of U.S. <br />Geological Survey <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Where Are They? <br />Since being discovered in January 2007 at Lake <br />Mead, quaggas have spread downstream to several <br />locations along the Colorado River, the Colorado <br /> <br />Appearing almost as nutshells, nearly 100 shells of dead <br />quagga mussels fit on a person's hand. In the background is a <br />fishnet that should be transparent, but is encrusted with <br />...IIIIIIIIIII quagga mussel remains and is now a solid curtain. LCR photo <br />_......... by Steve Leon <br /> <br />I <br />-...... <br />