Use water in your house? Denver Water says zebra mussels are a threat we're all facing

While the conversation around zebra mussels so far in Colorado has been about where they are and how to stop them, Denver Water is making sure everyone has a clear understanding of what is at stake should the invasive species get their little fibers on the rest of Colorado's waterways, be it rivers, revisors, or more. 

"Zebra clogging mussels have the ability to latch onto really anything, any kind of substrate material, and really clog things up," Brandon Ransom, Recreation Manager for Denver Water said. "They are really, really difficult to get rid of once you have them. So that's it's been on our radar for a long time."

While Colorado Parks and Wildlife are still searching other bodies of water for signs of infestation, it's up to all of us to stop the spread of the little monsters who have the potential to gum up just about everything submerged in water, take food from local wildlife, and generally cause mayhem. The issue is once they are in an area, it's hard to get them out. 

"They're asexual," Ransom explained. "They have the ability to reproduce with just one, and so they can lay just thousands of eggs."

"I mean, just clogging things up and getting that our pipes are our valves, our gateways, you name it, causes a huge concern for Denver Water."

Pipes like the ones that lead water from our revisors up in the high country to the Front Range, which goes to many Colorado taps and faucets. Ransom said it's about being on top of cleaning any water vessel that a mussel might have stowed away on while taking a boat from one place to another. "I mean, Lake Powell is infested," Ransom said. "A lot of people go to Lake Powell for the weekend."

While Colorado is one of the last states in the country to not have the invasive species, state leaders are hoping to keep it that way. 

"We just really need to keep an eye on it and educate people and help them understand the impacts of this and do everything that we possibly can to keep it out of our waterways," Ransom said.