Photo from Ventura County Star

The Ventura County Star today reports how a ninth-grader’s science project just might stop quagga mussels from damaging one of Southern California’s primary water delivery systems. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Millions of dollars have been spent fighting quagga mussels in the Midwest and millions more have been allocated to fight the invasive mussel since it was first detected last year in the West. But this researcher is hoping her mix — she calls it “goo” — which costs under $5 a gallon to make could solve much of the problem.

The inventor is not a doctorate-level scientist or an employee of a state environmental agency. She’s 14-year-old, french-fry-loving, giggly and precocious Brenna Callero, and she just may have the cure for the common quagga mussel. Or, at the very least, she’s got a good project for this year’s science fair, called Don’t Move a Mussel.

So far, the identification of quagga mussles in several of California’s most popular fishing spots has forced state officials to ban recreational boaters until the problem gets under control. Last month, the Los Angeles Times covered this and other, costly regional impacts of the tiny quagga mussel.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 11:23 am and is filed under Central Basin News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.