Microbe being tested as non-toxic answer to quagga mussel problem

From Riverside’s Press-Enterprise:

Nearly two decades of research has turned up what could be the first nontoxic treatment for the menacing quagga mussel, a crustacean that threatens water quality and ecosystems nationwide, including reservoirs near Temecula and Riverside and along the Colorado River.

The discovery could save some of the billions of dollars being spent to chemically treat waters infected with the mussels, and alleviate concerns about exposure to cancer-causing substances produced in the treatments, water experts said.

Metropolitan Water District, which serves 18 million Southern Californians, has spent about $10 million fighting quaggas by chlorinating key intake valves and draining parts of the Colorado River Aqueduct. Without treatment, the mussels clog equipment and can give water a bad taste and odor.

The mussels, first found in the United States in the 1980s, have been a problem in the West for less than two years. They already are well established in Lake Mathews near Riverside and Lake Skinner near Temecula, two drinking-water reservoirs linked to the aqueduct. Quaggas also have polluted the Colorado River lakes of Havasu, Mead and Mohave.

For four years, scientist Dan Molloy and his team at the New York State Museum lab tested more than 700 soil and water samples before they discovered the quagga’s nemesis: a common and naturally occurring bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens. In the process, they combed riverbanks, fields and microbial samples in the labs of other scientists, hoping they would find something lethal to the mussels.

Read more from Riverside’s Press-Enterprise by clicking here.

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