Decew Falls generator to test chemical-free zebra mussel killer

[Spiel]

Decew Falls generator to test chemical-free zebra mussel killer

Experiment will be a first in Canada

 

 

June 26, 2009

Matthew Van Dongen / stcatharinesstandard.ca

 

 

An eco-friendly bacteria that kills invasive mussels will be tested for the first time in Canada at the Decew Falls hydro plant.

 

Ontario Power Generation will monitor the specialized microbe’s ability to kill zebra and quagga mussels, which threaten power production at the combined 170-megawatt power stations on Twelve Mile Creek in St. Catharines.

 

Normally, the power producer uses up to 20,000 litres of chlorine every year to control the tiny mussels at its Niagara generators, said Tony Van Oostrom, a senior environmental adviser for OPG.

 

“If we don’t treat it, our cooling systems get plugged and the plant shuts down,” Van Oostrom said of the fast-multiplying mussels, which are notorious for plugging water-intake pipes, ruining underwater machinery and coating the underside of boats.

 

Chlorine kills mussels, but it can also poison fish, plants and other aquatic life.

 

Van Oostrom said OPG has managed to cut down its total chlorine use from 100,000 litres a year over the last decade. “But if this works, we could stop using it completely,” he said.

 

It has worked incredibly well in smaller-scale tests so far, said Daniel Molloy, a scientist with the New York State Museum who discovered the potential of Pseudomas fluorescens.

 

“We tested this bacteria in many small scale trials,” Molloy told a crowd at the announcement at Decew Falls Generating Station Tuesday. “It kills zebra and quagga mussels, but even more importantly, no other aquatic organism died. This is extraordinary.”

 

Molloy has teamed up with a California company, Marrone Bio Innovations, to market the bacteria as a product. “This is not only the first Canadian trial for my little bacterium, but the first worldwide trial ... on this scale,” he said.

 

The mashed-up microbes are introduced into the water as a food source for the bacteria-loving mollusks, which won’t clam up to protect themselves as they do with chemical killers.

 

“They eat the stuff, they’re happy and then they’re dead,” said Van Oostrom, who plans to have a full-scale test of the bacteria running by August.

 

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment has approved the one-year pilot project, which could ultimately make the product legally available to other industries.

 

Niagara Region, which zaps mussels with chlorine at intake pipes for its many water treatment plants, will be watching the experiment with interest, water and sewage director Betty Matthews-Malone said.

 

Environment Minister John Gerretsen and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley came out Tuesday to applaud the experiment.

 

“We may be doing ourselves not only an economic benefit, but also an environmental benefit,” Gerretsen said.

 

Gerretsen also announced Ontario Power Generation has joined the provincial Environmental Leaders program, which recognizes organizations with good compliance records and a commitment to reducing the environmental impact of their operations.

 

The minister visited Walker Industries in Thorold Tuesday morning to give its revamped compost operation the official sniff test.

 

The Thorold facility had previously composted all 40,000 tonnes of regional yard and food waste in enormous open piles. Now, the company has covered the piles in hi-tech GORE fabric and is dumping all incoming waste in an enclosed building.

 

“I can barely smell it, quite frankly,” the environment minister said after giving the air a judicious sniff at the official facility reopening. Gerretsen praised the company for its innovative solution to the “nuisance issues” often associated with turning rotting food and yard waste into soil additives.

 

A now closed composting regional facility in Port Colborne caused odours several years ago that angered residents and prompted provincial charges.

 

Walker Industries has also had to deal with neighbour complaints, vice-president Mike Watt said. The new coverings should keep the air cleaner, he said, as will mechanical aeration from beneath the piles.