Mandatory boat inspections to prevent invasive mussel species
from entering local drinking water sources will continue as long as
recreational vessels are allowed on Santa Clara County’s
reservoirs.
Gilroy
Mandatory boat inspections to prevent invasive mussel species from entering local drinking water sources will continue as long as recreational vessels are allowed on Santa Clara County’s reservoirs.
The SC Valley Water District board of directors voted 5-2 Tuesday to spend up to $175,000 to continue the inspection program at least until July 2009. The inspections are required for all boats that enter Anderson Lake, Coyote, Calero and Stevens Creek reservoirs, in an effort to ensure that destructive zebra and quagga mussels are not introduced into local water facilities.
SCC Parks and Recreation will provide an equal amount of funding in a cost-share arrangement that started with a pilot inspection program in May. On May 23, the district board voted to provide half of the $560,000 to fund the inspections until December 31, 2008.
Although the program started as a pilot, board members and district staff said that unless they ban boating on reservoirs altogether, preventive inspections are here to stay because the cost of eliminating mussels would be far higher.
“This is something we’re going to have to live with a very long time,” said board chair Rosemary Kamei.
Some board members expressed concern over the cost of the inspection program, which is currently estimated at $700,000 per year. However, according to Bruce Cabral, water quality unit manager for SCVWD, the Metropolitan Water District in southern California, in whose reservoirs quagga mussels found a home last year, has spent nearly $8 million in eradication efforts.
“Prevention is the most effective method at delaying control and eradication costs,” Cabral said.
But director Joe Judge said that means boating on reservoirs should be completely prohibited. Other directors cautiously supported the funding at Tuesday’s meeting, noting that due to the slipping economy they might prefer a boat ban when the issue comes back to them in about six months.
District staff explained Tuesday that less money will be needed during the winter months, when local boat use drops off substantially.
Cabral said the money will continue to pay for contracted inspection services from Quaggainspections.com, a private boat inspection company.
In addition to the inspections, the district’s efforts to keep the mussels out of the water include the ongoing monitoring of “settling plates” at the reservoirs for mussel life.
“We haven’t found any adult mussels, but we’ve rejected boats with holes in them, and vehicles with water on them” that could harbor baby mussels, said Cabral, who noted that boats must be “clean and dry” before entering county reservoirs.
The mussels, which were introduced to California waters by recreational boating last year, can rapidly multiply and cause damage to intake systems.
Funding for the local program is partially recovered through revenue from inspections, which cost seven dollars per boat. Boats must be reinspected each time they visit the reservoirs after entering non-local water.
