In a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers have developed an environmentally safe bacterial toxin to control zebra & quagga mussels that have found their way into the waterways of 25 states over the past two decades, fouling the environment as they spread.
The new bio-pesticide was derived from a common soil bacterium at the New York Museum Field Research Lab in Cambridge. When ingested in large quantities, the bacterium is lethal to these mussels, but harmless to non-target organisms, including native freshwater mollusks.
In experimental treatments of zebra and quagga mussels, the bio-pesticide achieved a 98% mortality rate in service water systems at a New York power plant. The addition of the bacterium to the water supply showed no effects on humans.
Since their introduction to the U.S. in the mid-1980s, these critters have cost the North American economy billions of dollars in lost industrial productivity and the expense of control efforts. The two species, native to Europe, have few natural predators in America, and they compete with indigenous mussels, disrupting the native food chain.
When the invaders grow in high density, they can block pipes that deliver water to power-plant cooling systems, shutting down electricity generation while the organisms are removed. Large colonies can also threaten water supplies for drinking, fire-fighting, and irrigation.
Methods now used by power-plant operators to control these critters include chemical chlorination, filtration, and pre-oxidation of intake water. Use of the new bacterial toxin is economically competitive with these other methods while having minimal effect on native species. Application of the bacterial toxin will allow power plant operators to reduce or eliminate the use of chlorination that can harm aquatic ecosystems.
For more info: http://www.fossil.energy.gov
Source: GREAT LAKES BASIN REPORT
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