North Texas Flooding Sparks Concerns About Zebra Mussels
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Another problem from the record rains and lake flooding North Texans are seeing is what experts believe will be a wide spread growth in zebra mussel infestations.
Brian Van Zee, the inland fisheries regional director for Texas Parks and Wildlife, said Monday this is the spawning season for zebra mussels.
"Obviously with this much water and flooding – they're going to be carried much further, much quicker," Van Zee said.
Because of problems at Lewisville Lake, Lake Livingston will be impacted, he said.
But with the problems at Lavon, Lake Ray Hubbard could also see zebra mussels.
"We will be watching for that closely this year with these kind of flows," Van Zee said.
To the west of the metro, the presence of zebra mussels at Lake Bridgeport will likely cause problems at Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth.
"These rains have been a blessing in terms of ending the drought and filling up our lakes...certainly can't deny that..but it makes it more difficult to control."
"These are going to get carried much further – much faster downstream," he said.
Van Zee says monitoring will be done on these lakes but he can't predict a time frame to see any signs of infestation.
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