Round Rock Agrees To Help Eradicate Zebra Mussels

ROUND ROCK, TX — Round Rock City Council members approved its part of a cost-sharing agreement to combat invasive zebra mussels in Lake Travis at its last regular meeting.

The agreement calls for Round Rock to contribute $165,905 to the $1.3 million project aimed at reducing the invasive species. By comparison, Cedar Park will pay $663,559 while Leander will chip in $516,922.

Officials previously revealed the discovery of the rapidly producing mollusks in the body of water about 10 months ago. Mitigating is necessary as the mollusks pose a threat to the floating raw intake of the Brushy Creek Regional Authority and other downstream treatment plants facilities.

Cedar Park and Leander participated in the agreement given the threat posed to their own floating raw intake at water treatment plants at each city. All three communities are partners in the Brushy Creek Regional Authority providing water to residents through a pipeline running through Lake Travis.

According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), poses widespread ecological and economic threats. This small, freshwater mollusk originated in the Black, Caspian, and Azov seas region of the former Soviet Union before a breathtaking spread by the 18th and early 19th centuries enabled by construction of extensive canal systems allowing them to gravitate to nearly all drainage systems in Europe, according to agency officials.

It wasn't until 1998 that the first account of an established population was confirmed from lake St. Clair, located between lakes Huron and Erie, that agency writes on its website. A mere two years later, zebra mussels were found in all five of the Great Lakes before making their way out of that region through canals into the Illinois, Hudson, Arkansas, Cumberland, Hudson, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee rivers.

As of 2011, agency scientists note, the following states had reported zebra mussels within, or in waters adjacent to, their borders: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The mussels also have been documented in more than 600 lakes and reservoirs in the U.S., according to the agency.

The mollusks also pose a threat to the survival of native mussels to whom they like to attach onto in parasitic fashion, scientists noted. Zebra mussels can grow to a maximum length of about 50 millimeters (1.9 inches) and live up to five years, according to information found on the agency's website. Their common name was inspired by their dark, zebra-like stripes.

>>> Photo via U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service