Critics say Lake Mead efforts inadequate to protect against mussel invasion

By Jeff DeLong
Reno Gazette Journal
Jul 11, 2012

Quagga mussels are small freshwater bi-valves that are very invasive.

Lake Tahoe and other pristine water bodies in the West are threatened by an alarming number of pleasure boats leaving Southern Nevada’s Lake Mead without being adequately inspected for the possible presence of invading mussels, critics say.

Conservationists, environmental regulators, politicians and power providers from at least six western states are asking members of Congress and federal agencies to require a much stronger boat inspection program be established at the Las Vegas-area reservoir now overrun by more than 1 trillion quagga mussels.

The concern is the mussels could spread from Lake Mead and contaminate other vulnerable places, including Tahoe and the Columbia River system, at potentially staggering environmental and economic cost.

“It’s unimaginable how much chaos could result,” said Republican Idaho state Rep. Eric Anderson, who joined others in criticizing the National Park Service for what he described as a lackluster approach to addressing the danger.

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