For several years Utah has become very much aware of a problem with Zebra Mussels and Quagga mussels and are trying very hard to get the people who use the waters of Utah to become aware and to do their part in trying to control them.  Once they are in the water, they will always be in that water.  There is no known way to control them once they are in a body of water and they are very prolific, laying as many as 60,000 eggs several different times each year.

As part of the control effort, it is mandatory for anyone using a water body in Utah to display a certificate stating that you have not “boated” in any of four bodies of water in Utah in the past 30 days (the fourth is Lake Powell, as the mussels have just recently been discovered there).  This certificate is to be displayed on the tow vehicles dashboard.

Their definition of a boat is this: “If it floats it’s a boat”!

So that goes for kids float tubes, rafts etc.  And fishermens float tubes.

There are specific things that are required of the user after leaving any body of water in Utah and one of them is to clean, drain and dry your equipment and leave it dry for 7 days…but only if you have visited one of the known contaminated bodies of water.  It’s actually a good idea to do that regardless, but for some of us who only visit a couple or three bodies of water a year and they are not ones on the contaminated list, we are in luck.  BUT, you can get a citation if you do not display the certificate with your signature and current date on your dashboard.  The citation can be as harsh as visiting a judge, jail time and up to a $5,000 fine.  No thanks!  I’ll display the certificate.

If however you visit one of the known contaminated sites and don’t want to wait up to 30 days to play with your boat, you can have it professionally steam cleaned at one of the many DWR sanctioned “FREE” cleaning places…see their site for where those are located.  Your home hot water is not enough to kill the little buggers…it takes 10 minutes of 140 degrees to kill them.

I just finished taking their on line informational course and got my year long certificate to be displayed on the dashboard.  It takes about 30 minutes to complete and you have to have a perfect score…there are only 30 questions as well, but it is very informative.

Hope to see you on the water soon!

Bears Butt

May 13, 2013