Shocking Mussels

From May, 1996 (Update #27)

The Champlain Water District will test the use of plasma sparker technology this spring to keep zebra mussels from clogging a 2,500-foot-long water intake line at the district's treatment plant in South Burlington, Vt. The sparker works on the same principle as a spark plug. It creates a high-energy arc - basically a miniature lightning bolt - between two submerged electrodes. The shock wave from this arc will point down the water-intake line, preventing zebra mussels from attaching to the inside surface of the pipe. The water district currently is using chlorination to control zebra mussels. According to materials provided by the water district, the $91,500 project is being funded with grants from the Green Mountain Power Corporation, the Electric Power Research Institute, the New England Water Works Association, Champlain Water District and "in-kind" services from the water district and Clancy Environmental Consultants, Inc. Sparker units have previously been installed to protect the Vergennes/Panton and St. Alban's, Vt., water systems. For further information, contact James Fay of the Champlain Water District, phone (802) 864-7454.

ID: 199605-7.

The Zebra Mussel Update was a 4- to 8-page quarterly national newsletter published by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute from May 1990 through May 1997. The ZMU documented the spread of the zebra mussel -- an exotic nuisance mussel -- through North America's freshwater environments, especially the Great Lakes, and on efforts to control it.