12 Jan 2021

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moves to eradicate invasive species

Since the discovery of zebra mussels at the South Dakota Big Bend powerhouse intake gates in the summer of 2019, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has conducted an internal analysis of the potential alternatives to control the invasive species.

13 Dec 2019

Invasive species mussel in on Gavins Point Dam

When you’re talking about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ six mainstem dams on the Missouri River, the word small is a relative term. While the dams and their powerhouses vary in size, they are all imposing structures. For instance, Gavins Point Dam, near Yankton, South Dakota, is the smallest of the six, yet it took 7 million cubic yards of earth to build and its three Kaplan generators are capable of generating electricity for 68,000 homes. This makes it that much more ironic that something as small as a zebra mussel could give it such big problems.