Mussel roundup: State considers emergency; Kern ramps up; Fear the guano?

The invasive golden mussel is moving fast so it’s hard to keep up. Here are just a few tidbits to chew on.

State agency noodles emergency
A Department of Water Resources spokesman confirmed to SJV Water that the agency, which is in charge of the vast and crucial State Water Project is thinking of declaring an emergency due to the rapidly expanding golden mussel infestation.

“DWR is considering declaring an emergency for State Water Project golden mussel response actions but has yet to decide,” the spokesman wrote in an email. “If DWR declared a State Water Project emergency, or if the governor declared a state of emergency for golden mussels, the declaration would allow DWR to use additional resources to initiate, plan, and implement golden mussel-related response efforts in a coordinated and expedited manner.”

Kern committee up
When the Kern County Board of Supervisors declared a local state of emergency due to the mussels at its May 12 meeting, it also created an ad hoc committee to stay up to date on all the latest.

That committee will hold its first meeting on Monday, June 8, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the third floor conference room at the county building at 1115 Truxtun Ave.

Release the regs
An urgency bill, Assembly Bill 2032, would lift requirements for water agencies with a mussel plan submitted to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to obtain permits before they can act.

The bill, submited by Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom (D-Stockton), has passed through the appropriations committee and was sent to the Assembly floor on May 18.

No news is good news
California Water Services, which supplies drinking water to the majority of Bakersfield residents, has found no golden mussels, nor evidence of mussels, in its treatment facilities, confirmed Tammy Johnson, director of field operations for CalWater’s Southern Region.

She said because CalWater gets the majority of its supplies from groundwater, it has little chance of becoming infested with the mussels. But it does occasionally take water from the Kern River and the Kern County Water Agency, which brings supplies in from the State Water Project via the Cross Valley Canal.

No mussels have been found in the Kern County Water Agency’s Henry C. Garnett Water Treatment facility, the agency wrote in an email. The Garnett plant often uses state water to supply several water purveyors who serve residents of east Bakersfield and the agency has found a significant mussel infestation in its Cross Valley Canal.

Because mussels have been found in the the raw water pump station that supplies the treatment plant, the Kern County Water Agency task for is working on a mitigation plan that must be reviewed by the Division of Drinking Water and will provide that to the public once it is approved, the agency wrote in an email.

The City of Bakersfield has not found any evidence of golden mussels in its water facilities, including the Kern River, as of May 19, according to an email from Assistant Water Director Daniel Maldonado.

That’s no “guano”
As an example of how difficult full mussel eradication would be, San Joaquin County Supervisor Mario Gardea told SJV Water that a seagull can eat a golden mussel, but the veliger (its offspring) will stay alive in the seagull’s stomach and be excreted later.

Like something out of a horror movie, the veliger can start a new infestation if it is plopped into a body of water.