Invasive Mussels Are Costing the U.S. $1 Billion a Year

Zebra mussels showed up in the United States in 1988 and nobody's been able to stop them since. Thirty-plus years later they're in 32 states, their close relatives the quagga mussels are in 19, and a third species — the golden mussel — was detected in California in 2024. The damage they cause runs about $1 billion a year. Federal agencies have decided it's time to crowdsource a solution.

The Bureau of Reclamation, working with NASA, has launched a $550,000 prize challenge asking for innovative ideas to stop the mussels from spreading between water bodies through recreational boat traffic. Concept papers are due May 29.

What These Mussels Actually Do

The short version is they attach to everything and ruin it.

Zebra and quagga mussels latch onto any hard surface — pipes, dams, floodgates, boat engines, dock infrastructure, cooling water intakes at hydropower plants. Once attached they grow and multiply in dense colonies that block flow, cause equipment to overheat, and rack up enormous maintenance costs for anyone operating near water. Divers sometimes have to go in and remove them one by one. That's how bad it gets.

They also attach to native mussels, which often kills the natives. They attach to turtles. As filter feeders they can consume so much plankton that other species in the entire food web start to starve. When they die their empty shells clutter beaches and clog downstream equipment all over again.

Their offspring are microscopic — invisible in water — which is how they spread so effectively. A recreational boat that launches in an infested lake and then drives to a clean one can carry larvae in its ballast water, bilge, live well, or any other compartment that holds water. The mussel doesn't need to be seen to hitch a ride.

"The mussels can attach to pretty much any hard surface, then grow and multiply," said biologist Sherri Pucherelli of the Bureau of Reclamation's technical services center.

Why Existing Methods Aren't Enough

Many states require boat inspections and decontaminations before and after launches. Those programs work — but they're slow, labor-intensive, and create real bottlenecks during peak summer boating season, when thousands of boats are moving between lakes every weekend.

In a handful of cases where the mussels were caught early and aggressive action was taken immediately, small populations were successfully eradicated. Lake Waco in Texas. A rocky reef at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. Utah has used hot water dip tanks to clean boats. These isolated wins show it's possible — but scaling any of these approaches nationally hasn't happened.

That's what the prize challenge is trying to solve. Federal officials want something novel — a physical prototype that can prevent mussels and larvae from entering or leaving a boat's ballast without generating hazardous waste, damaging vessels, or creating safety risks.

"Just some way to inactivate them," said Christine VanZomeren, prize competition program administrator.

How the Competition Works

The challenge runs in phases. The first round accepts written proposals describing a novel non-harmful method — up to six winners get $25,000 each. Those finalists then pitch their ideas in a Shark Tank-style event to a panel of professionals. Up to three winners at that stage receive $50,000 each for prototype development. The final round awards up to three prizes with $125,000 going to the top concept.

The competition is coordinated through a tournament lab at NASA's Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation — the same infrastructure used to crowdsource solutions to other federal challenges.

Concept papers are due May 29, 2026.

What Boaters Can Do Right Now

While the contest runs federal agencies are urging anyone who uses a boat to take these steps every single time they move between water bodies. Clean all plants, animals, mud, and sand off your boat, trailer, props, and anchor before entering any water. Drain everything — the motor, bilge, live well, all compartments — before you leave. Don't transfer water from live wells or bait buckets to another water body. Dump leftover bait in the trash on land. Let everything dry for at least five days before reuse or wipe it down thoroughly with a towel.

It sounds like a lot. Compared to $1 billion a year in damages, it's nothing.

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