Before you leave Lake Powell, you must begin a three-step decontamination process. Before you leave the lake, you must clean all mud, plants, mussels and other debris off of your boat. You must also drain all of the raw water from the boat’s bilge, live and bait wells, ballast tanks and lower engine unit.
After you’ve completed the first two steps (cleaning and draining your boat), you can legally leave the lake to travel into or through Utah where you must complete a third step: Drying your boat at home or having the boat serviced at a professional decontamination station.
If you’ve been boating on Lake Powell, you cannot launch your boat at any water in Utah until you’ve completed all three decontamination steps.

Clean, drain and dry

As Memorial Day weekend and another boating season rapidly approach, Dalton says now is the perfect time to brush up on your decontamination skills:

Quagga and zebra mussels move from water to water by attaching themselves to boats and other equipment that comes in contact with the water.

Cleaning, draining and drying your boat, and any recreational equipment that comes in contact with the water, is the key to eliminating the mussels. “You can do this yourself,” Dalton says, “and it won’t cost you a thing.”

(1) Remove all of the plants, mud or animals (attached mussels or fish) from your boat’s exterior and interior by wiping the exterior and interior clean.

(2) Drain all the water from places in your boat where it may have accumulated. This includes the ballast tanks, the bilge, live and bait wells, and the motor. Even coolers that contain water from the lake should be drained.

The first two steps should be done immediately after pulling your boat out of the water and up the launch ramp. “Going through these steps should become as routine as securing your boat to its trailer,” Dalton says. “Make sure you do them every time.”

(3) Dry your boat and all the equipment that got wet (water toys, anchor or mooring ropes and the anchor chest) at home or where you store it for the following length of time:

If you’d like to put your boat on the water before the drying times allow, you’ll have to get it professionally decontaminated. “Decontamination equipment is available at most of Utah’s popular boating waters,” Dalton says. “The service is usually free.”

When you get your boat decontaminated, a certified operator will wash it inside and out with scalding hot water (140 degrees Fahrenheit). He or she will also use the same hot water to flush the raw water circulation systems on your boat.

You can learn where decontamination units are by calling a regional DWR aquatic invasive species biologist. Their telephone numbers are available online.

The clean, drain and dry steps are also available in a video at the DWR’s YouTube site.

Why the concern?

The following are reasons why you should be concerned about quagga and zebra mussels:

Mussels can plug water lines, even very large diameter ones.

Dalton says widespread infestation by quagga or zebra mussels could cost Utahns more than $15 million each year to maintain Utah’s water delivery systems. “That cost would likely be passed on to you in the form of higher utility bills,” he says.

Mussels remove plankton from the water column, the same plankton that support Utah’s sport fish and native fish. The mussels could devastate fisheries in Utah.
Mussels can damage your boat by attaching themselves to your boat’s hull and fouling the boat’s engine cooling system.
When mussels die in large numbers, their sharp shells can foul beaches and cut your feet as you walk along the beach.