The USA is offering almost R$ 1 million for anyone who can stop invasive mussels that hitchhike on boats, spread through rivers and lakes, and threaten to clog water systems, reservoirs, and hydroelectric power plants.

Written by Caio Aviz

Published on 05/05/2026 at 23:57

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U.S. federal challenge seeks innovative, efficient, and scalable technology to prevent quagga, zebra, and golden mussels from hitchhiking on boats, rapidly spreading among rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, compromising water supply systems, affecting hydroelectric plants, straining critical infrastructure, and increasing billions in annual damages already recorded in the country

The United States government has launched a challenge with a prize of up to US$200,000, approximately R$998,000, to curb the spread of invasive mussels that threaten rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and essential water supply structures.

According to the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency linked to major water systems and hydroelectric generation, the program seeks new inspection and decontamination technologies. Therefore, the goal is to prevent invasive organisms from being transported by vessels between different bodies of water.

Invasive Species Hitchhike on Boats and Advance Between Reservoirs

Currently, quagga, zebra, and golden mussels can move between rivers and lakes using boats as a means of transport.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Damage Affects Pipelines, Pumps, Intakes, and Power Systems

As a result, invasive mussels can accumulate in pipelines, pumps, and intake systems used by cities, farms, and power plants.

Consequently, these organisms reduce equipment efficiency and, in more severe situations, completely block water flow.

According to the Bureau of Reclamation, quagga and zebra mussels alone generate over US$1 billion per year in control and repair costs in the United States.

These species also affect aquatic ecosystems, marinas, beaches, and reservoirs.

Alert Grew After Detection of Golden Mussel in California in 2024

Recently, concern increased after the detection of golden mussels in California in 2024.

The species is considered highly invasive and reinforced the need for faster, more efficient, and large-scale applicable solutions.

***Sniffer dog inspects vessel during operation against invasive species threatening rivers, lakes, and water systems in the United States. Photo: Miguel Gutierrez Jr.***

Meanwhile, current decontamination methods still require time, specific equipment, and specialized labor.

In many cases, the process involves rinsing with heated water in internal areas of vessels, a procedure that can take up to an hour per boat.

Federal Challenge Will Have Three Phases and Seeks Lab-Tested Prototypes

To address this bottleneck, the government created the “Halt the Hitchhiker: Invasive Species Challenge”, or “Stop the Hitchhiker: Invasive Species Challenge”.

The initiative will be divided into three phases, with progressive awards for proposals, presentations, and prototypes.

First, participants must present concepts for new technologies or inspection and decontamination methods.

Thus, up to six projects may receive US$ 25 thousand each.

After that, the best advance to a virtual presentation, with up to three teams receiving US$ 50 thousand to develop the ideas.

Finally, the finalists will create prototypes for laboratory testing.

Final prizes reach US$ 125 thousand and winners will be announced in 2027

In the final stage, the first place winner may receive US$ 125 thousand, about R$ 623.5 thousand. Second place will have a prize of US$ 75 thousand, approximately R$ 374.1 thousand.

The third place winner may receive US$ 50 thousand, about R$ 250 thousand.

The competition is open to researchers, startups, universities, and inventors based in the United States.

According to the informed schedule, the final winners are expected to be announced in September 2027.

Meanwhile, the country is trying to accelerate solutions to protect rivers, lakes, power plants, urban water systems, and strategic reservoirs.

Will a new technology be able to prevent these invasive mussels from continuing to hitchhike on boats and spreading across the United States?

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The USA is offering almost R$ 1 million for anyone who can stop invasive mussels that hitchhike on boats, spread through rivers and lakes, and threaten to clog water systems, reservoirs, and hydroelectric power plants.

Invasive Species Hitchhike on Boats and Advance Between Reservoirs

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The USA is offering almost R$ 1 million for anyone who can stop invasive mussels that hitchhike on boats, spread through rivers and lakes, and threaten to clog water systems, reservoirs, and hydroelectric power plants.

Invasive Species Hitchhike on Boats and Advance Between Reservoirs

Damage Affects Pipelines, Pumps, Intakes, and Power Systems

Alert Grew After Detection of Golden Mussel in California in 2024

Nasa satellite records a bright ring in the Pacific Ocean and reveals how a phytoplankton spectacle in the Chatham Islands also hides one of the planet’s largest natural traps for pilot whales.

Federal Challenge Will Have Three Phases and Seeks Lab-Tested Prototypes

Final prizes reach US$ 125 thousand and winners will be announced in 2027

In the cold desert of Ladakh, where it hardly rains, engineer Sonam Wangchuk created the ice stupa, a tower that freezes winter water and stores it for irrigating crops in the spring, a simple engineering feat that mimics nature.

Libya built over 4,000 kilometers of underground pipelines to bring water from the Sahara to coastal cities in a project that the government itself called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Chinese woman planted trees for decades while sand buried part of her house, received $5,000 from an American in 1999, and helped transform the desert into a forest of 8 million trees in China.

Almost 6,000 residents live concentrated along a single street nearly 9 km long in the interior of Poland. Houses form a continuous row, and behind them, narrow agricultural strips emerge, creating one of the most unusual rural patterns in Europe.

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Two helicopters, 41 people, and over 38 tons of bait were mobilized on a remote Pacific atoll to eliminate rats; five years later, native trees grew by 5,000%, seabirds gained habitat, and the rainforest began to regenerate.

Described by astronauts as one of the most unlikely natural phenomena on Earth, the Okavango Delta spreads over up to 15,000 square kilometers in the middle of the desert and transforms Botswana into a living labyrinth of channels, islands, and flooded areas.

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The world’s largest natural bridge cave is in China, impressing in Guizhou with almost 180 meters in height, a gigantic opening, and internal space used even for cars, becoming a cool tourist refuge within a monumental karst formation.