Hydros Also Get Mussel Headaches

From July 28, 1992 (update #14)

AMHERST, N.Y. - Small-scale hydropower facility operators should plan ahead for zebra mussel infestations if what New York has experienced holds true for other states. Many small hydropower users in upstate New York historically have not held permits for the release of chemicals into lakes and rivers. Therefore, unlike many water intake operators, they cannot simply modify existing permits to allow the additional use of chlorine for zebra mussel control, according to Cameron Lange of Acres International Corp. in Amherst, N.Y. Obtaining the required state permits may take up to two years in New York, Lange said. Requesting such permits may also open up new monitoring requirements not previously faced by operators of such facilities. Service water and fire protection systems at hydropower facilities are at greatest risk from zebra mussels, he said. One facility on Hinkley Reservoir, operated by the New York Power Authority (NYPA), is using an automatic backwash strainer system to remove mussels from its service water system, which requires an intake flow of 300 gallons (1,135 L) per minute. Two similar installations are planned at NYPA facilities near Albany on the New York State Barge Canal. Lange said large hydropower facilities near Niagara Falls and Massena, N.Y., already held chlorination discharge permits and are using additional chlorine to prevent zebra mussel infestations.

ID: 19920728-9.

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.