Kern County extends local mussel emergency declaration
Agricultural water districts in Kern County have spent $7.3 million, and counting, trying to eradicate the rapidly spreading invasive golden mussel, according to a report delivered during the Kern County Board of Supervisors July 14 meeting.
Water districts are expecting those costs to balloon to $36 million a year, according to a report by the County Administrative Office.
The board approved extending its local emergency declaration by another 60 days regarding the mussels and renewed pleas for the Governor’s office to declare a statewide emergency.
“I want to implore the governor and the state Legislature to hear not just Kern County’s cries for help but the entire Central Valley and the state,” said Supervisor Jeff Flores. “We need that state declaration of emergency so we can start capturing that money now. Every day that goes by, every week that goes by, the situation just gets worse.”
Kern has already submitted water district costs to the state Office of Emergency Services, which could be reimbursed later if a statewide emergency is declared, according to the CAO’s office.
San Joaquin and Sacramento counties have also declared local emergencies. The Kern County Water Agency and Friant Water Authority both also have task forces to monitor the spread of the mussels, which have been found in those agencies’ critical infrastructure.
The mussels, native to south east Asia, are very small, repopulate quickly and can clog the insides of pipes and other water equipment.
They, apparently, hitchhiked to California in cargo ship ballast water, which was released into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in 2024.
They have since spread throughout the state’s water systems all the way to San Diego, according to an interactive map created to track the mussels by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
