I'm always interested in some free cash..and when it's $100,000, then you have piqued my curiosity. The US Government will award you that much cash, but you have to have a great idea...so get your thinking cap on.

Every since the invasive Quagga and Zebra mussels were introduced to the US they have been spreading across the country, pretty much unchecked...clogging waterways, pipes and intake valves on hydroelectric plants, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The only way to stop damages is by keeping the mussels out of waterways, because so far, once they infect a waterway, there is no way to get rid of them and that's where you and I come in...and how you can win a fat 100k paycheck.

According to a story from KSL.com that first appeared in the AP, the U.S. government is offering this huge payday for anybody who is able to come up with the best idea on how to stop the destructive spread of these invasive species.

Scientists are flummoxed as to how to stop them so as a last resort they think the public may have a great idea that would work better than anything they’ve come up with.

Quagga and Zebra mussels are not native to the U.S. and are originally thought to come from Russia and the Ukraine.

Experts believe that they arrived here aboard huge cargo ships in the 80s that released ballast water, containing the mussels into the Great Lakes….and they spread from there after attaching themselves to pleasure boats and trailer, the being deposited in other lakes, infecting them, until it spread across most of the country.

The bureau of reclamation says “there is only one spot in the lower 48 states that is not yet infected and that is an area close to us…the Columbia River Basin here in the Pacific Northwest”…you know..where most of Idaho’s power comes from.

Federal and state agencies, like Idaho have tried to stop the spread and infestation of the mussels by inspecting each boat that enters into the state.

The goal of the competition and winning $100,000 is to eradicate mussels in large water ways….but you have to hurry with your possible genius idea, because the deadline for ideas is Feb. 28.

Now there are two parts to this $100,000 challenge. First, scientists are looking at a way that will kill all of the mussels in large bodies of water. Secondly, your idea must not kill off any other species that are native to the water and happen to live in that body of water. In short, you can’t kill everything and then start over.

"We can kill mussels," said David Raff, science adviser at the Bureau of Reclamation. "Chlorine is very effective. But you can't dump chlorine into a reservoir."

Alright here’s your chance to do some good, help save millions of dollars to all of us who pay for electricity and make yourself a cool $100K…good luck!

 

 

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