The reason?

Quagga mussels were found at nearby Lake Mead in Nevada last January and natural resources agencies throughout Utah and the rest of the western United States is scrambling to prevent their spread.

Because non-native mussels such as the quagga and its near-relative, the zebra mussel, can ruin sport fishing, clog drinking-water and power-plant intake pipes, foul boat facilities, ruin boat engines and litter beaches with sharp, smelly shells, their negative effects could cost governments and industry millions of dollars.

The mussels, natives of the Ukraine and the Caspian Sea, first appeared in the U.S. in 1988 at Lake St. Clair near Detroit and spread rapidly. They were likely introduced by barge or boat traffic in the Great Lakes and are moved from lake to lake by unwitting boaters.

That's why Sayer, an Alaskan who winters in St. George, where he spends a lot of time boating, gets asked about where he has been boating nearly every time he comes to a reservoir anywhere near Lake Mead.

Utah State Park managers and National Park Service officials no doubt hope all boaters will be as cooperative as Sayer when the busy summer season kicks off this week with the Memorial Day weekend. Boaters going to Lake Powell and most major Utah reservoirs will be queried to see if they have boated at Lake Mead, Lake Havasu or Mohave Lake.

"It is an important thing to protect the [natural] values we have here," Sayer said moments before launching in front of a sign emphasizing the importance of not moving mussels into Sand Hollow.

'Zap the Zebra'

Boaters whose crafts have not been used at Lakes Mead, Mohave or Havasu or waters east of the Rocky Mountains in the past 30 days, will be allowed to launch and given a certificate.

If boaters have visited those lakes, those who have washed their boats and trailers thoroughly and allowed them to completely dry for at least five days will be allowed to launch. If that hasn't been done, boaters will be required to get a professional decontamination.

Richard Droesbeke, who heads the boating education program for the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation, said registered boat owners will receive a brochure called "Zap the Zebra" in the mail explaining the process and its importance.

"We don't want to get them in our waters," he said. "We are doing things to prevent their spread. If one adult comes in, it could spread larvae and our water is infested. We don't want that to happen."

The threat has caught the attention of state and national officials who are struggling to find funding for a massive education and inspection program that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement.

This is especially true since a recent small sampling of boaters at Lake Mead showed that Utah waters such as Lake Powell, Pineview, Bear Lake, Willard Bay and Jordanelle are popular destinations for Lake Mead boaters.

Devastating impacts?

Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, said his agency has already asked the Utah Legislature for a special appropriation to help with boater education programs, which might be the only way to stop the spread of the unwanted mussels.

Bryan Moore, a National Park Service biologist at Lake Mead, said the mussels are capable of filtering a liter of water each day and consume phytoplankton that sport and native fish rely on for food. They also change a reservoir's entire water chemistry. Mussels clean water so well that sunlight penetrates water deeper and produces more problems with algae.

The mussels also have no natural predators, though ducks and crayfish might consume them in small numbers. Because water from Lake Mead supplies California, Nevada and Arizona residents, using poisons to kill them is not a viable option. There are also concerns about their effect on the future of Colorado River endangered species, such as the razorback sucker and humpback chub.

Since the invasion of water west of the Rocky Mountains is relatively new, biologists acknowledge that they don't have all the answers when it comes to what effect the mussels will have.

"We think fish will survive but we're not sure if numbers will decrease," said Moore. "The food web of the lake will change but, to what extent, we don't know. Maybe populations won't explode. But they have exploded everywhere else. There are dead zones in the Great Lakes."

One immediate result of the mussels at Lake Mead was that the Desert Princess tour boat sucked some into its intakes and overheated the motor, causing its engine to die on the lake. The mussels could cause substantial damage to boat engines and the generators and air conditioners used on big house boats.

Wayne Gustaveson, who has spent 31 years managing the fishery at Lake Powell, said the mussels have the potential to devastate both fishing and boating recreation at the huge reservoir.

"I have not found one good thing about the mussels," he said. "Usually there is something positive, but not in this case."

Utilities gird for battle

Municipal water districts and power companies are also paying close attention to the situation, and they too, are alarmed about the possible impacts a mussel invasion could have on their operations.

Corey Cram, watershed coordinator for the Washington County Water Conservancy District, just on the other side of the border from Lake Mead, said the mussels would hurt water quality in reservoirs such as Sand Hollow and Quail Creek that supply water to booming St. George - and could damage infrastructure and impact the ability to deliver water.

"It's hard to know the cost," he said. "There would be extensive maintenance costs and modified infrastructure. It would complicate our intake structures and there would be water treatment plant modifications. Any time you step into making changes to your water treatment plant, those are compounding factors. It's hard to anticipate what those costs would be, but it could have a big impact."

Power companies are also wary. Mike Avant of southern Utah's Garkane Energy, said the mussels would create havoc with intakes at hydroplants.

Jeff Hymas, of Rocky Mountain Power, which services much of the Wasatch Front, said that 6.7 percent of the electricity supply comes from hydropower, some of which is from northern Utah.

He said that while there are no signs of mussels yet, hydro managers are aware of the issue and are monitoring it closely.

Results of one study from 1995 showed that between 1988 and 1995, facilities spent $69 million on mussel-related expenses on the Great Lakes. One paper company alone spent $1.4 million to remove 400 cubic yards of zebra mussels from its intake valves, according to a 1997 U.S. Geologic Survey report.

Another Canadian report referred to on the mussel Web site www.100thmeridian.org showed that mussel infestations at eight hydropower facilities, 86 municipal plants and 67 industrial plants cost managers over $172 million.

At Lake Mead, national park public affairs specialist Roxanne Dey said water intakes designed to prevent mussels from getting into pipes delivering water are in place. She said power managers at Hoover Dam were not too concerned about the mussels' impact yet.

Only a matter of time?

Because the mussels have moved so close to Utah, is there a feeling that it is just a matter of time before they begin to infest waters here?

DWR director Karpowitz said Minnesota, near the Great Lakes with thousands of lakes, used an aggressive boater education plan successfully.

"They may well show up," he said. "We want to be ready to contain them if they do show up and limit their spread. But that is tough to do. A little water in the bilge or anchor compartment and they travel with you."

Thus, while state and federal agencies work diligently to keep mussels from moving into Utah, the reality remains that they may reach the state - and those who run and administer fisheries, water quality, recreation, water delivery systems and hydraulic power companies are all concerned about what that might mean.

The only hope officials have is that the West's reservoirs, with their dramatic drops and increases in water depth - conditions far different from the Great Lakes - might inhibit infestations. But, at this point, no one knows what the future holds.

One thing is for sure, though: Biologists from around the West - including many in Utah - will be watching Lake Mead closely for the next few years.

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* TOM WHARTON can be reached at wharton@sltrib.com or 801-257-8909.