Use of quaternary ammonium to control the spread of aquatic invasive species by wildland fire equipment

David Britton,Sandra Dingman

doi:10.3391/ai.2011.6.2.06

Abstract

Wildland firefighting equipment moves large volumes of raw water during fire incidents in order to extinguish flames or control fire growth. This water movement may serve as pathways for aquatic invasive organisms to be moved between water bodies and watersheds. The equipment used may become contaminated and serve as vectors for future invasions across large geographic areas. New guidelines used by federal firefighting agencies recommend the application of sanitation solutions using quaternary ammonium compounds for decontaminating wildland fire equipment to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species that may foul the equipment. While quaternary ammonium compounds have been tested on other aquatic organisms, the effectiveness of such compounds has not been systematically tested on dreissenid mussels. We tested the survival of quagga mussel veligers after exposure to a 3% solution of Sparquat 256 ® for 5 and 10 minutes. We assessed survival immediately after treatment and then after 60 minutes in fresh water. We found that a 5 minute exposure duration was insufficient to kill 100% of tested veligers. However a 10 minute exposure, as prescribed in the interagency operational guidelines for preventing spread of aquatic invasive species, was effective in killing all tested veligers, but not immediately after treatment. An additional 60 minutes were required after the quaternary ammonium solution was removed before 100% mortality was achieved. This work highlights the need for more rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of various sanitation solutions in killing quagga and zebra mussels under different ambient temperatures in order to validate and refine the sanitation protocol for firefighting equipment and other applications.

Highlights

With the discovery of quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis Andrusov, 1897) in the Lower Colorado River, USA, in January 2007, containment of spread of this invasive species became a high priority for many state and federal agencies due to its well documented impacts to utility infrastructure, ecological systems and recreational opportunities (Nalepa et al 2009; Schloesser et al 2006, and others)
Our results suggest that exposure time affects quagga mussel veliger survival
Our results suggest that a 10 minute exposure to 3% Sparquat 256® is sufficient to kill 100% of quagga mussel veligers after 60 minutes, at least on a small scale under laboratory conditions

Summary

Introduction

With the discovery of quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis Andrusov, 1897) in the Lower Colorado River, USA, in January 2007, containment of spread of this invasive species became a high priority for many state and federal agencies due to its well documented impacts to utility infrastructure, ecological systems and recreational opportunities (Nalepa et al 2009; Schloesser et al 2006, and others). Most of the containment focus was on boats, which are a widely recognized vector for spread between hydrologically disconnected waterbodies. Wildland firefighting operations and equipment in western states represents a possible vector rarely considered by the aquatic invasive species community. In the ten-year period between 2000 and 2009, 28,050,090 ha (69,313,271 acres) burned in 785,490 wildland fire incidents in the United States (National Interagency Fire Center 2010a), most of which occurred on public lands in western states. An increase in fire frequency increases the opportunity for fire incident operations and equipment to spread aquatic invasive species

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