With millions and millions of gallons flowing from the river to the Fargo Water Treatment Plant every day, there’s plenty to keep track of. Prior to this discovery, Veligers have been found in the Wahpeton area in 2010, 2011 and 2014, but never in the north of the city.
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“We just wanted to check it out”.
Water Utility Director for the city of Fargo, Troy Hall, says Fargo city employees discovered the mussel while inspecting their Red River intakes Thursday afternoon. Biologists now wonder if there are undiscovered colonies of adult zebra mussels elsewhere within the Red River watershed.
“We knew it was going to show up eventually”, Hall said.
The screens at the river intake point can also be coated with a material that repels the mussels, he said. “However, we can prevent them from being moved from the infested water body to waters that aren’t infested”.
The Game and Fish Department said people should be careful transporting water out of the Red River because the mussel larvae are microscopic.
Fred Ryckman, an aquatic nuisance species coordinator for the Game and Fish Department, said in a statement that “the results are certainly surprising in that so many veligers were detected at each of the six sampled sites”.
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To do your part, thoroughly clean your water equipment, like boats and trailers, after being out.
