Power Plants Prefer Mechanical Controls

From March 23, 1993 (Update #16)

Nearly half of the zebra mussel-infested Great Lakes power plants in the United States are using mechanical cleaning methods, according to a survey by Electric Power Research Institute scientist Tony Armor. Armor's survey showed that other commonly used methods of zebra mussel control, in declining order, were chlorine, non-oxidizing chemicals and thermal treatments. Many of the 53 U.S. lakeshore power plants surveyed reported using more than one method of zebra mussel control, and the only Great Lakes power plants using no zebra mussel control methods were located on Lake Superior. Armor also identified 109 potentially affected power plants on inland river systems colonized by zebra mussels. Armor presented the results of his survey at the International Zebra Mussel Research Conference last month in Toronto.

ID: 19930323-4.

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.