River Ecology and Restoration - River Dynamics and Integrated River Management - page 659

species comes from south China, which has spread to various regions, including Japan, Australia, Argentina,
Thailand, India, Brazil and Europe (Darrigran et al., 2003). The species colonizes habitats with water
temperature between 8-35

ć
sunlight, dissolved oxygen higher than 1.0 mg/L, and pH higher than 6.4 (Morton, 1982; Márcia, 2006;
Darrigran and Damborenea, 2006). Golden mussels have unprimitive byssus threads, which allow them
to attach onto solid walls, especially human constructed water transfer tunnels and pipelines. Dense
attachment of golden mussels in drink water transfer tunnels and pipelines results in macro-fouling
(Yamada et al., 1997), causes high resistance to water flow and damage to pipeline walls. This along with
dead mussels decay harms the surrounding water quality (Darrigran, 2002; Guan and Zhang, 2005).
Golden mussels have a high reproduction rate. Due to the favorable conditions in water diversion
tunnels, cooling pipelines, pumps, and gate slots, golden mussel tends to colonize these habitats, ultimately
leading to damage to these facilities. Figure 10.37 shows colonization of golden mussel in the water
transfer tunnels in Shenzhen, southern China and attachment golden mussel on the surface of a concrete
fragment. The density of golden mussel individuals is as high as to 20,000/m 2 . Golden mussel invasion
causes a serious challenge to water transfer projects that seek to solve issues such as the uneven distribution
of water resources and the problem of water shortages in northern China. The presence of golden mussels
results in quick and uncontrolled spread of the species.

, flow velocity less than 2 m/s, water depth less than 10 m with or without

Fig. 10.37 Colonization of golden mussel on concrete walls in a water transfer tunnel and attachment of golden
mussel on a concrete fragment with high density (See color figure at the end of this topic)

Studies have been conducted to learn the golden mussels' biological characteristics in order to find
effective and sustainable strategies to control its invasion (Morton, 1977b; Wang, 1997; Darrigran and
Damborenea, 2006; Zhuang, 2006a; Liu et al., 2006; Li and Su, 2007). Many measures have been
suggested to control golden mussels (Xu et al, 2009), such as filter screen at the entrance of the water
transfer systems (Darrigran, 2002), sand filter by using proper size distribution of sand (Lou and Liu,
1958), adjustment of flow velocity to restrain the attachment (Xiang, 1985), smooth pipe walls with
anticorrosive coat to stop attach (Luo, 2006; Zhuang, 2006b), temperature control, electromagnetic
treating, and dissolved oxygen reduction (Morton, 1975; Mcennulty, 2001), hot and dry environment
(Iwasaki, 1977; Darrigran, et al., 2004), sealing up the pipelines to block oxygen from entering (Liu et al.,