Alberta Environment asks boaters to check for zebra mussels

Boaters in Alberta are being urged to check theirboats before entering the province's lakes and waterways thissummer.

Alberta Environment is worried that zebra and quagga musselscould be hitching rides from one province to another by attachingthemselves to boats, trailers or other watercraft.

Spokeswoman Kate Wilson says anyone bringing in a boat fromout-of-province should clean, drain and dry it.

The province is also doing boat inspections at commercial vehiclescales on major highways coming into Alberta from Saskatchewan andthe U.S. to catch the mussels before they get into the lakes.

The same kind of precautions are being taken in Saskatchewan after the recent confirmation of zebra mussels in Lake Winnipeg.

Zebra and quagga mussels can cause irreversible damage to aquaticecosystems and clog water intakes.

Manitoba recently declared victory in its first battle with zebramussels, but cautioned the fight is far from over.

The province sealed off four harbours in mid-May with a siltcurtain before injecting liquid potash into the water.Theconcentration of potash was increased until it suffocated the mussels. Manitoba Conservation Minister Gord Mackintosh said thetreatment was successful and killed the mussels.

The invasive species, which has been in the Great Lakes foralmost two decades and has spread throughout parts of the UnitedStates, was discovered for the first time in Manitobalast October.

Wilson says if mussels spread to Alberta, it will be bad for theeconomy.

"We know that they could live here, they could survive ourwinters," she says. "The economic impact is really the driver,because any pipe in the water irrigation, water treatment any industry dependent on a pipe in the water would have serious economic impacts."