No one wants non-native, invasive zebra or quagga mussels anywhere near the Columbia River basin. So researchers have taken water to the mollusks in an attempt to evaluate how they might fare if they made their way to the Northwest.

The Portland State University study is being conducted near Lake Mead in Nevada where the mussels have infested the lake, as well other sites in the Colorado River basin. The mussel have multiplied rapidly in the Southwest, encrusting dam infrastructure and blocking pipes. They can become so overwhelming that they can crowd out local species.

The Columbia is the last major American river system untainted by zebra or/and quagga mussels.

So, 100 gallons of water was dipped from the Columbia and hauled to Lake Mead where the growth of mussels is charted in one-liter containers of water. The growth is being measured in Columbia River water, Columbia River water with enhanced calcium levels and Lake Mead water, which has relatively high calcium levels. Columbia River water naturally contains less calcium than other rivers and lakes where the mussels have spread. The mussels need calcium to build their shells.

The researchers hope to find out whether certain calcium levels, as well as other variables such water temperature and pH, fuel mussel growth.

Calcium levels typically depend on local geology. The Willamette River and lower Columbia, as example, have relatively low levels of calcium while rivers in southern Idaho, such as the Snake, and in western Montana have somewhat higher levels of calcium.

Knowing where a quagga infestation might best blossom would help would officials prioritize efforts to keep mussels out of high risk areas.

"The first experiment we ran was inconclusive but encouraging," PSU's Mark Systma said of a trial run conducted down at Lake Mead earlier this winter. Generally the mussels seemed to grow better in the Lake Mead water and the calcium-laced Columbia River water than they did in the pure, low calcium Columbia River.

But there were a lot of variations in the mussels' response with some growing and others actually losing weight in the same calcium levels.

With study protocols fine-tuned, the researchers are now amidst a second 30-day growth trial. The study is funded by the Bonneville Power Administration.

"It would be interesting to do it with Snake River water," said Systma, an associate professor of Environmental Sciences at PSU, director of its Center for Lakes and Reservoirs, and co-director of the Aquatic Bioinvasion Research and Policy Institute.

Studies suggest that the costs of controlling mussels in the Columbia River hydro system could total more than $20 million up front, with additional continuing costs, according to BPA. Their spread could also wreak ecological havoc by displacing native species.

BPA, working with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and the interagency 100th Meridian Initiative, helps fund monitoring of Northwest waters for signs of quagga or zebra mussels. BPA also helps fund public awareness and prevention efforts urging recreational boaters to make sure they do not inadvertently bring invasive mussels to the Northwest.

BPA's primary mission is marketing power generated in the federal Columbia-Snake river hydro system.

The mussels were first discovered in the mid-1980s in the Great Lakes. They were likely transported inadvertently aboard ships from their native lands in eastern Europe. They have since moved West, likely attached to recreational watercraft.

Quagga mussels were discovered in January 2007 at Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States. Lake Mead, located in the states of Arizona and Nevada, is a Colorado River impoundment behind Hoover Dam.

Within two years the invasive species has spread throughout the lower Colorado River system and into major water distribution systems. The mussels have now been found in all but eight of the western states. Among those eight are Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.