Teen takes on invasive mussels

VENTURA, Calif. -- The researcher lowered her scientific experiment into Westlake Lake, north of Los Angeles, hoping this would be the cure to the problem that has the potential to cripple California's water supply.She spent hours formulating and mixing the concoction that she hopes will stop quagga mussels from clinging to pipes by the thousands and damaging water delivery systems.Millions of dollars have been spent fighting quagga mussels in the Midwest and millions more have been allocated to fight the invasive mussel since it was first detected last year in the West. But this researcher is hoping her $5-a-gallon mix -- she calls it "goo" -- could largely solve the problem.The inventor is not a doctorate-level scientist or an employee of a state environmental agency.She's 14-year-old, french-fry-loving, giggly and precocious Brenna Callero, and she just may have the cure for the common quagga mussel.Or, at the very least, she's got a good project for this year's science fair, called Don't Move a Mussel."I love science," said Brenna, a ninth-grader at La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles. She also likes golf, AC/DC, history, sailing and a slew of other things, but for now she is focused on the tiny quagga mussels and her gloppy creation to keep them at bay.The professionals paid to study the issue are impressed."At this point we are taking her very seriously," said Mike Giusti, a fisheries biologist who is tackling the problem for the California Department of Fish and Game. Quagga mussels can produce 1 million offspring a year. They spread rapidly, altering ecosystems by eating away the bottom of the food chain. For water agencies, the larger concern is the mussels' ability to cause millions of dollars in damage by virtually enveloping pipes.For Brenna, it all started with a few mosquito bites on the fairway.Brenna, who is determined to try out for the Ladies Professional Golf Association, was tired of being bitten by mosquitoes when she was golfing. For her science project last year, she developed a solution that kills mosquito larvae. She consulted a flower book to see which plants may be mosquito detractors, crushed a bunch of marigolds and lemon rinds, and before long her mixture was killing mosquito larvae.The Ventura County Environmental Health Division gave her a commendation for her work and asked her if she'd be interested in working at the department during the summer, she said.She started learning about the quagga mussel, but the deciding factor came with the closure of two lakes to boats.Over bowls of M&M's, Brenna and her mother, a former environmental attorney, brainstormed about what they could do to stop the mussels.Brenna figured what worked for mosquitoes might work for quagga mussels, so she adapted her concoction and included a paintlike substance that would help the mix stick to plastic or concrete. She wanted to use all natural ingredients because she has allergies and didn't want to sneeze while applying the mixture.She painted three variations of her goo onto pipes to see if the goo would deter the mussels from sticking to the pipes.She called Giusti, who helped her test her goo at Lake Skinner, another nearby lake with a quagga mussel infestation. She's waiting six weeks to go back and retrieve her tubes to see if they worked.Last week she put two more pipes into Westlake Lake, one with goo and one without, to determine whether the mussels have moved into the lake, and if they have, whether the goo works.Of all the people working on the quagga mussel issue, Brenna is likely the youngest researcher."It is really very unique to have someone of that age to take interest in this so quickly when the public isn't even aware of what is happening," said Rick DeLeon, a microbiologist with Metropolitan Water District who is dealing with the mussel. "I think she's come up with a great hypothesis."What exactly is Brenna's goo is a trade secret she's keeping to herself. If it does work out, Brenna would like to get a patent and make money off her high school science experiment.But she wouldn't use the money to pay for college. She's banking on a golf scholarship for that(Contact Zeke Barlow of the Ventura County Star in California at www.venturacountystar.com.)