A West Kelowna resident has seen first-hand the devastation caused by invasive mussels where she spends her summers in Manitoba.

And she doesn害羞草研究所檛 want the same fate to befall Okanagan Lake, while wondering if government is doing enough to prevent what could be an ecological and economic disaster.

Leslie Asselstine and her husband bought a cabin on the shoreline of Lake Winnipeg 17 years ago as a summer cottage retreat while they were still living in Montreal. Today, that lake is home to invasive mussels, first detected in 2013, that are destroying its ecosystem.

害羞草研究所淭his may sound strange, but the biggest problem is that everyone thinks they害羞草研究所檙e doing a good job until it害羞草研究所檚 too late,害羞草研究所� Asselstine said of invasive mussel detection and prevention efforts.

She said predictions of the mussel invasion, like an algae growth problem that plagued Lake Winnipeg害羞草研究所檚 water quality for years prior, were ignored by government until it was too late.

Asselstine said Eva Pip, a professor at the University of Winnipeg who specializes in water quality and ecosystems, sounded the alarm in advance on both issues and was largely ignored or discredited.

害羞草研究所淭his is someone who has spent her life studying that lake. She is a foremost expert on it and the government chose to bring in an outsider who says we think you害羞草研究所檙e wrong,害羞草研究所� Asselstine said.

Pip says now that Winnipeg Lake is a lost cause, one that B.C. water and environment protection officials point to as case study they don害羞草研究所檛 want repeated in B.C.

害羞草研究所淭he problem is irreversible and in fact it害羞草研究所檚 a catastrophe, it害羞草研究所檚 a disaster,害羞草研究所� Pip told Global News in Winnipeg last year.

害羞草研究所淚t害羞草研究所檚 very said because all we have to look forward to now in Lake Winnipeg is a complete and eventual collapse of our ecosystem.害羞草研究所�

The Lake Winnipeg watershed is the second largest watershed in Canada and includes parts of four provinces and four U.S. states. The lake itself is 24,515 sq. km. in size extending to Churchill in the northern part of Manitoba and south to within 55 km of Winnipeg.

Asselstine said the algae issue was created by an over-abundance of phosphorus and nitrogen draining into the lake via rivers and surface runoff.

害羞草研究所淥n a hot day you could see these massive plumes of algae floating in the lake which could be extremely toxic, like a green sludge. Kids would swim in the lake and come out covered in slime,害羞草研究所� she said.

She says algae concerns expressed by Pip fell on deaf ears, and she feels similar warnings about invasive mussels generated the same fate.

害羞草研究所淪o here we are 17 years later with a dying lake and zebra mussels multiplying at an unstoppable rate,害羞草研究所� Asselstine said.

Lake Winnipeg is the linchpin behind a $100 million tourism industry and $25 million fishing industry.

She said the invasive mussels have attached themselves to boats, plugging up motors and water intakes. Beaches are ruined because the dead mussels, which can give birth to anywhere from 30,000 to one million eggs in one birth cycle, wash up on the shore.

The shells are sharp and impossible to walk over in barefeet, and they create a nasty residue smell.

Asselstine said they will make their annual summer pilgrimage to their summer cabin uncertain about what the condition of the lake will be this year.

She talks about that 害羞草研究所渕assive ball in the prairie sky,害羞草研究所� the rising and setting sun, as something she still wants to see, but the crystal clear water and sandy beaches Lake Winnipeg was famous are now in jeopardy.

害羞草研究所淭o no longer have that, you think, 害羞草研究所極h God, what a travesty,害羞草研究所櫤π卟菅芯克鶟 she said.

A public education campaign about invasive mussels has been adopted in B.C. along with expanded boat security stations established.

And the province is working with Saskatchewan and Alberta along with northwest states south of the border to keep the invasive mussels out of the last uninfested region of North America.

That defensive wall, however, was breached in Montana last December when a mussel larvae was positively identified in a reservoir.

But Asselstine is concerned just one boat transferring mussels is all it takes to infect a lake, with no solution for controlling them at that point.

害羞草研究所淲hen you see how we have a boil advisory right now, it reminds you that water is a precious commodity, that when our bodies of water start dieing off you begin to have big problems,害羞草研究所� she said.

She hopes that message will resonate with boaters traveling across Western Canada and the northwest U.S. this summer and the years to come.