more zebra mussels...

[Grant]

Story on Twincities.com

[Johnny_Da_Der]

doesn't vadnais connect to keller and phalen??? it's just a matter of time.

[Slyster]

Could someone copy/paste the article here? No way am I signing up to yet another webpage that wants SO much information about me just for on article.

[Slyster]

Here we go.. this one worked better.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1466831.html

eeek!

[Black_Bay]

Quote "It is not clear, said DNR officials, whether the mussels entered St. Paul's system by water pumped from the river or from boaters or fishermen who brought them into the lakes through bait buckets or aquatic weeds." What a crock. The upper Mississippi is chock full of zebra mussels. The DNR listed the Mississippi River infested early this year from the mouth of the Pine River to the Iowa border. Now some unnamed official claims the don't know how they got in the lakes. Hello, McFly!!! They pump directly from the river into Pleasant Lake! Not to mention other than a few home owners canoes and sailboats, no one can boat on any of the lakes. This has been coming for a while now anyway. It's no surprise to me.

[Johnny_Da_Der]

FROM THE PP:

Zebra mussels have been found in three Ramsey County lakes, Department of Natural Resources officials announced Friday morning.

St. Paul water workers found the invasive mussels last week in Vadnais Lake, and a search turned up mussels in nearby Sucker and Pleasant lakes. The connected lakes are part of system of reservoirs that provide drinking water for about 417,000 residents in St. Paul and eight nearby communities.

While they won't affect drinking-water quality, the exotic mussels, which can reproduce rapidly, could have a large impact on the lakes' ecosystem and water intake pipes. The mussels are known to clog water pipes and foul beaches. They can change lakes' natural food chain by consuming vast quantities of microorganisms and they can smother native mussels.

The mussels have created problems in the Great Lakes, where municipalities have had to spend more money removing them from pipes and water facility infrastructure. Experts think the mussel may have entered the chain of lakes from water pumped from the Mississippi River as part of the St. Paul Regional Water Supply system. Or boaters or anglers could have transported them.

St. Paul Regional Water Services staff found the mussels during routine maintenance work at the Vadnais Lake water intake facility, multiple mussels were found attached to intake walls. DNR workers later found small zebra mussels on the northern end of Sucker Lake, and in the canals between Sucker and Vadnais and Pleasant lakes.

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Experts think they entered the system from Pleasant Lake.

The DNR and St. Paul Regional Water Supply Services have been cooperating to fight an infestation after mussels were discovered in the Mississippi River a few years ago. The water agency has treated pumped Mississippi water to rid it of mussel larvae.

At least 29 Minnesota water bodies and wetlands are currently listed as infested with zebra mussels, according to the DNR's Web site. The list includes Lake Superior, the Mississippi River south of Brainerd and Lake Pepin; the lower St. Croix; Lake Mille Lacs and Zumbro Lake and numerous smaller lakes and rivers.

FROM THE TRIB:

Zebra mussels have been found in three Ramsey County lakes that are part of the St. Paul drinking water system that serves nearly 420,000 people, city and state officials said today.

The invasive mussels were found in Vadnais, Sucker and Pleasant Lakes and in canals joining them. Residents in St. Paul and eight first-ring suburbs that receive the water do not need to worry, said Steve Schneider, general manager for St. Paul Regional Water Services.

"The presence of zebra mussels does not affect the quality of the water at all," Schneider said. "This is our raw water reservoirs, and all of that water is treated in our water treatment facilities after it leaves the lakes and before it gets to customers."

However zebra mussels can clog intake and connecting pipes that are part of the system, he said, and may increase maintenance expenses. Most of the system's water is pumped from the Mississippi River through the chain of lakes before it is treated and distributed to communities.

The mussels have spread into the upper Mississippi River in recent years, and originally were discovered in the Great Lakes. They likely came from Europe in the ballast water of ships. Zebra mussel larvae are microscopic and free-floating at an early stage of life, and later latch on to hard surfaces to grow.

Besides clogging pipes, they can litter beaches and shallow areas with sharp shells, smother native mussels and affect fish habitat and ecology by removing nutrients from lakes and rivers. It is not clear, said DNR officials, whether the mussels entered St. Paul's system by water pumped from the river or from boaters or fishermen who brought them into the lakes through bait buckets or aquatic weeds.

[slipperybob]

"No boats are allowed on Sucker Lake and Lake Vadnais, he said, and only boats without motors are permitted on Pleasant Lake, but all three are open to fishing."

Is Pleasant Lake really open to fishing?

[SFBOY]

if you live there it is. find a north oaks resident and start sucking up.