WEPCO Initiates First Wisconsin Control Measures

From July 26, 1991 (update #9)

Wisconsin Electric Power Company has initiated the first measures in Wisconsin power plants to prevent infestations of zebra mussels. "In-house" service water systems at all WEPCO power plants are currently being treated or are ready for treatment, according to senior environmental scientist Dave Michaud, who reported the following measures at WEPCO's five Wisconsin facilities: * Oak Creek and Pleasant Prairie plants -- chlorination has begun; * Valley and Port Washington plants -- thermal treatment will be used when mussels are observed in the plant; * Point Beach - chlorination, used for several years to control other types of biofouling, will be used to prevent mussel infestations there. In related news, Wisconsin Public Service Company (WPS) has submitted a permit request to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for treating the service water system at its Kewaunee power plant and expects to begin operation soon, according to WPS Central Lab Supervisor Randy Oswald. He said a similar request will soon be made for the WPS Pulliam plant in Green Bay.

ID: 19910726-6.

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.