It’s not the news the Brown County Water Improvement District wanted to hear.  Two adult zebra mussels were found on a boat in Lake Brownwood Tuesday, June 1.

In a story on KOXE.com from April 27, 2021,  the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) had detected zebra mussel larvae in plankton samples collected at two sites approximately three miles apart at Lake Brownwood.  The samples were taken in November. Not until Tuesday had adult zebra mussels been found.

“Yesterday afternoon we were informed by a local boat owner that he had found what he thought were zebra mussels on his boat.  We actually went and collected the samples that he had found and actually there were two, just two individual zebra mussels.  I did confirm through Inland Fisheries, through pictures of them, that yes, they are zebra mussels,” said John Allen, General Manager of Brown County Water Improvement District #1.  He continued by saying the boat they were found on had only been in Lake Brownwood but the boat had been in the water since November and not taken out of the water until Tuesday.

“We would just like everybody to be on the alert. Please check your boats.  When you get your boat out, if you do find zebra mussels on there, please contact Brown County Water Improvement District or our Lake Patrol division at the lake or the game wardens locally,” Allen said.

Even before the finding on Tuesday, the BCWID was already preparing for this day to come.

“We have our engineers working on it now.  Eventually, what we’re going to have to do is put in more infrastructure to protect our intakes and our pipelines and our pump stations.  These zebra mussels are very invasive.  They will attach to any hard surface and when they attach to those hard surfaces they colonize, they will stop up pipelines, they will stop up pumps.  We are looking at what we need to do to protect our infrastructure,” Allen said.

Allen said summer fishing and boating activities on Lake Brownwood this year shouldn’t be affected much by the discovery of zebra mussels.  But, over time, that may change.

“Eventually, what we hear from most lakes that have zebra mussels, what they’ll do is, they’re feeders.  They suck up all the plankton and everything, they will clear the water up which eventually will affect the fish population in the lake.  They take away all the little food for the little fish which eventually does affect the big fish.  It’s not good news for Lake Brownwood at all,” Allen concluded.

In addition to zebra mussels, the recent heavy rain has the lake more than a foot over spillway.  Allen cautioned that there is quite a lot of floating debris in the lake at this time and that boaters should be cautious and stay safe.