LAKE COUNTY ? The sale of two of the county”s four quagga mussel wash stations will wait another week, following almost an hour of discussion during the Tuesday Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting.
The board of supervisors approved the purchase of the machines last summer, then surplussed them in February, agreeing to sell them at an approximately $20,000 loss. Los Angeles County wanted to buy all four stations, according to Lake County Administrative Officer Jeff Rein, who was heading up the effort to sell the stations. The board agreed to delay the sale pending further discussion during a 10:15 a.m. quagga mussel workshop scheduled for June 16.
Lakeport City Council Member Suzanne Lyons asked the board to hold onto at least one of the stations to operate in Lakeport, and possibly a second for the City of Clearlake. Lyons said the owners of a Lakeport car wash wanted to operate one of the wash stations as part of its business.
“Lakeport is trying to step up and comply with the directions from (the state Department of) Fish and Game (DFG), who told me at a training two weeks ago that a decon station would be necessary to any viable program to keep quaggas out of the lake,” Lyons said.
Lyons said she spoke with DFG Environmental Scientist Jason Roberts, who specializes in aquatic invasive species. Lyons said Lakeport wanted to use the stations to decontaminate “iffy” boats: boats not found to contain the mussels, but suspected to pose a risk to the lake without decontamination because they have been in infested waters.
“One of the reasons that we were looking at getting rid of the stations is that we found that if there is a contaminated boat, or even an ?iffy” boat, that the decontamination stations as they sit right now would not do an effective enough job to decontaminate,” Supervisor Jeff Smith said.
In a phone interview with the Record-Bee after the meeting, Roberts said the stations use hot water, which needs to be 140 degrees at the point of contact to be effective.
“A decontamination station would be an integral part of any quagga inspection program,” Roberts said.
Roberts continued, “Boat decontamination is a proven method for killing quagga and zebra mussels, but it”s not always 100-percent effective. So if a boat is found with mussels on it, the boat will be quarantined.”
Roberts said state law gives the DFG authority to quarantine a boat. He said quarantine could last between five and 45 days, depending on weather conditions. Roberts said the wash stations are a “good tool” for addressing suspect boats.
“For any boat that has been in contact with a known infected body of water in the recent past and comes into Lake County, we need the option to provide an opportunity to the boat owner to go rinse the boat,” University of California Extension Advisor Greg Giusti said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
