The Increasing Effects of Zebra Mussels on Water Installations in England

Abstract

The zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is a major biofouling pest of water treatment works, irrigation systems and power stations in Europe and North America. This paper documents current problems associated with zebra mussels in English waterworks. Questionnaires and manual surveys conducted between 2001 and 2003 have revealed that over 30 water treatment works in England suffer problems associated with zebra mussels. Hundreds of tonnes of mussels are being removed each year from raw water intakes, pipelines and reservoirs. Problems have increased in. the last five years, due to a spread in the range of zebra mussels around England and the cessation of chemical treatment at the intakes of many treatment facilities during the 1990s. The importance of taking control of zebra mussels into account in planning new water supply schemes is highlighted.

Removal of metallic elements from real wastewater using zebra mussel bio-filtration process

“…Therefore, in the exclusive case of D. polymorpha, it may be advantageous to exploit the potential of this bivalve, now almost present in all the Europe inland waters. This will not certainly be an easy process; in fact, being D. polymorpha considered a serious threat for the aquatic environment and a dangerous fouling agent of many industrial structures [46,47], is poorly perceived by the scientific community as a valid filtering factor, despite the presence of encouraging results in the depuration context [28,48,25,49,30,21]. In this regard, the construction of appropriate facilities for bio-filtration, followed by further downstream treatment aimed to contain bivalves accidentally leaked from the plant (such as the peracetic acid treatment and sand filters) would avoid the problem related to fouling.…”

Predation by the invasive American signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus Dana, on the invasive zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha Pallas: the potential for control and facilitation

“…Considerable ecological and economic costs are attributed to zebra mussel invasion on both sides of the Atlantic (O'Neill, 1997;Ricciardi et al, 1998;Strayer et al, 1999). This is primarily due to the keystone effects of zebra mussels within ecosystems, where they can cause significant declines in phytoplankton and zooplankton concentrations through filter feeding (Pace et al, 1998;Caraco et al, 1997), and through the biofouling of hard structures (Elliott et al, 2007).…”

Multicomponent molluscicide mixtures for zebra mussel control

“…In addition to the negative effects on the infested ecosystems, the zebra mussel has a major impact on freshwater-dependent industries. Drinking water treatment facilities and process cooling systems are especially vulnerable to the species' biofouling activity (Claudi and Mackie, 1994;Elliott et al, 2005).…”