Boating fees to help with zebra mussel detection program in Colorado

    As Colorado moved into yet another drought year, lawmakers were at the ready with a slew of bills this year to put recycled water to use for irrigating hemp, marijuana, edible crops and even for flushing toilets.
    They also took aim at the growing problem of zebra mussels and other nuisance aquatic species that threaten reservoirs and water supplies.
    The Mussel-free Colorado Act came from the interim water resources review committee and was signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper on April 23.
    Since they were first found in a lake outside of Detroit in 1988, zebra and quagga mussels have become a huge problem for waterways in the eastern half of the United States, particularly the Great Lakes.
    Sightings have been rare in Colorado, but they have happened — at Lake Pueblo in 2008, at Green Mountain Reservoir in 2016 and in March outside of Grand Junction. In 2017, according to the state Division of Parks and Wildlife, 25 boats were found contaminated with mussels, up from 22 boats in 2016. Those boats had all come from other states, with Lake Powell in Arizona and Lake Havasu in California as the places where the mussels most likely came from.
    Mussels are a problem that doesn’t just affect reservoirs. In the Great Lakes region, electric utility companies spent $3 billion over a six-year period to clean up the mussel problem, which clogged water pipelines that helped generate electricity and in turn created higher utility costs for consumers.
    Fears that the nuisance could do to Colorado’s water system what it’s done to systems back east prompted lawmakers to ramp up the state’s aquatic nuisance detection program, which has been underfunded for years.
    Under House Bill 1008 — the mussel-free law — beginning Jan. 1, Colorado residents will pay $25 for an aquatic nuisance stamp for their boats in addition to the boat registration free. Nonresidents will pay $50 to use their motorboats or sailboats in state waterways.
    The fee is expected to raise $2.2 million that will help the division of parks and wildlife keep boat inspection sites open for longer hours and for a longer season. Doug Kreiger of CPW told the interim water committee last year that budget cutbacks have meant boaters could  avoid inspections, such as putting their boats in reservoirs on private land or at the public ramps when inspectors aren’t available.
    The law also will allow the division to recoup the cost of decontaminating boats that show up with mussels attached to boats or boat motors, anchors, anchor ropes, fishing gear and boat trailers.

The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.