Zebra Mussel Survey Completed In Conowingo Reservoir, One Mussel Found
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A private engineering firm has completed its survey of potential Zebra Mussel populations in the reservoir behind the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River in Maryland which found alone invasive Zebra Mussel was found in a water intake at the Conowingo Hydroelectric Dam.
 
This discovery prompted a larger survey of the nine-mile lake which stretches into Pennsylvania for five miles. This was the first time an invasive mussel was found in the lower Susquehanna River
Additional surveys of the lake identified a Zebra Mussel attached to a pontoon boat at the Glen Cove Marina in Harford County, Md. A survey of the Muddy Run Reservoir on the hillside above the river in Lancaster County, Pa revealed evidence of multiple invasive mussels in the rocks along the shoreline.
 
A survey around the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant completed over the past week identified no invasive mussels in the area.
 
Zebra mussels pose serious threats because of their potential to plug industrial and public water supply intakes that draw from infested waters. Zebra mussels also disrupt aquatic food chains by filtering out the microscopic plankton upon which fish and other aquatic organisms rely. One zebra mussel can filter more than a quart of water each day.
 
Further, the mussels have created new pathways for diseases like Type E (Avian) Botulism in the Great Lakes, causing further damage to the Great Lakes’ ecosystem.
 
Adult zebra mussels can be found in other Pennsylvania waters, including Lake Erie, the Ohio River and lower portions of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. The mussels have also been reported in Edinboro and Sandy Lakes in northwestern Pennsylvania, as well as upper French Creek in Crawford County and Cowanesque Lake in Tioga County. The mussels have also been introduced into diving quarries throughout the Commonwealth.
 
The zebra mussel is native to the Black and Caspian seas region of eastern Europe. They were introduced to North American waters when ocean-going ships released infested ballast water into the Great Lakes.
 
The Pennsylvania Zebra Mussel Monitoring Network, which is sponsored by DEP, Pennsylvania Sea Grant and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Zone Management Program, works to help slow the spread of invasive mussels in the commonwealth’s rivers, streams and lakes.

12/19/2008

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