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A microscopic organism discovered in a water sample from Deer Creek Reservoir could impact waterways across the state.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials announced Thursday DNA confirmation of juvenile quagga mussels in water collected from the Wasatch County reservoir on the Provo River.
The finding, from samples taken last fall, could have severe ecological, recreational and economical impacts. It all depends on whether quagga mussels take hold.
The appearance of the juvenile mussels — called veligers — does not mean Deer Creek Reservoir is infested with the invasive, destructive and prolific creatures.
"We've found veligers in the past at other waters in Utah," Jordan Nielson, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the DWR, said in a release. "With the exception of Lake Powell, mussel populations never established themselves in the waters where veligers were found. We're hoping that will be the case at Deer Creek too."
The reservoir will not be classified as infected unless adult quagga mussels appear.
The veligers could have come from adults in the reservoir, although none have been discovered at Deer Creek, but it is likely they were transported by a boater from another infected reservoir such as Lake Powell or Lake Mead. It is possible the vilegers could already have been dead when they were transported to Deer Creek.
The Bureau of Reclamation spends $2 million annually to clean quagga mussels from Hoover Dam on Lake Mead. The Utah Division of Water Resources has estimated it would cost $22 million each year just to deal with dam infrastructure should quagga mussels spread across the state.
"That doesn't include all the canals and pipelines," Nielson told The Salt Lake Tribune. "Ultimately, that cost would be passed on to the water users."
Female quagga mussels, according to Nielson, can produce up to a million new mussels each year and each animal can filter a liter of water each day.
Quagga mussels are not a health threat to people, but they do impact aquatic species like fish because they filter the nutrients from water. The fishery at Deer Creek Reservoir would likely be impacted if adult quaggas are found. Quagga mussels would also end up in the lower Provo River, a state designated Blue Ribbon Fishery, and at Utah Lake.
"The Provo River would probably end up being affected negatively with declining growth rates in fish and an overall decline in population," Nielson said.
Boaters and other recreationalists at waters across the nation impacted by quagga mussels have also been impacted. The adult shells are sharp and they end up littering beaches, making walking barefoot on the shoreline impossible. Quaggas stink when they die as water levels drop. The mussels also can destroy motorboats.
There are some developing technologies to treat for quagga mussels and block them from latching on to — or make them easier to remove from — water infrastructure systems. But once a reservoir or lake is colonized, it is likely the creatures will be around forever.
The mussels have caused extensive damage across the country since landing in the Great Lakes in the 1980s from transoceanic ships.
Lake Powell at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is considered an infected water. Other Utah waters have dodged several possible quagga infestations as young mussels were detected at two reservoirs — Red Fleet and Electric Lake — but reproduction never occurred and the waters were eventually deemed quagga free. A single adult quagga was found at Sand Hollow Reservoir, but no other quagga mussels were ever found on the water near Hurricane.
The first sign of a quagga mussel at Lake Powell showed up in a water sample in the summer of 2007. The reservoir then proved negative for the presence of quagga for several years before the current population emerged.
Bureau of Reclamation officials are monitoring the dam and will continue to collect samples. Divers eventually will be used to look for the mussels, but any adults in the reservoir will not be reproducing until the water temperature at the reservoir reaches 50 degrees. The water temperature Thursday was 36 degrees, according to Nielson.
Shane Mower, a fish and wildlife biologist with the Bureau of Reclamation is concerned that if Deer Creek Reservoir ends up being colonized, other popular nearby waters, including Jordanelle and Strawberry reservoirs will be at a high risk of becoming infected.
"Quagga mussels can't travel upstream," he said. "It would have to be some other method. Boaters would need to be very careful."
To address that issue, and following protocol, DWR director Greg Sheehan signed an order Thursday requiring all boats at Deer Creek Reservoir be decontaminated before leaving state park. Utah State Park officials said July and August are the busiest months at the lake, with nearly 190,000 visitors during those two months in 2012. At least 70 percent of those visitors — more than 130,000 people — were boating at Deer Creek State Park.
State officials will be hard-pressed to decontaminate the high number of boats on busy days.
"We are ramping up and looking at money sources and shifting budgets to get prepared," Neilson said. "We prefer boaters to decontaminate on their own because it costs less and leads to less inconvenience. We do have hot water sprayers at all the water-based Utah State Parks to decontaminate. If we can't get to someone, we will try to help schedule an appointment to do it at their next destination."
Twitter: @BrettPrettyman —
New regulations
Starting immediately, all Deer Creek boaters must either:
Clean and drain their boat. After cleaning and draining, a DWR or Utah State Park technician will place a tag on the boat that indicates when it was cleaned and drained. The boat will not be allowed to launch at another body of water in Utah until the boat has dried long enough to kill any mussels that might be in or on it. In the winter, boats must dry for at least 30 days. The drying time can be as little as three days, though, if the temperature the boat is drying in remains below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 72 straight hours.
Have their boat professionally decontaminated. That service is free, but it takes time.