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Friday, May 8, 2009 4:49 PM CDT
Charleston taking a fog-free approach to eliminating mosquitoes
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — The city has adopted a mosquito abatement program that will nearly eliminate fogging with pesticides, and is seeking the public’s help to implement the program.
Dave Collard, superintendent of the wastewater treatment plant, said the city started researching different abatement methods last year after receiving complaints from some residents about the pesticide used by its fogger as well as from the city employees who drove the fogger truck.
“The more we looked into it the more we found out that fogging as the main way of controlling mosquitoes is very ineffective and very expensive,” Collard said.
Controlling mosquitoes at their source in standing water and preventing their growth will be a more effective abatement method than trying to kill off these insects after they have become adults, the superintendent said.
Source control involves treating standing water with larvacide bacteria that is only effective against mosquito eggs and larva and that is not a risk to other wildlife and humans, Collard said. Source control knocks out up to 80 percent of the mosquito population whereas fogging only gets 10-20 percent, he estimated.
Collard said there are a lot of points of standing water in Charleston that the city cannot control, such as a wheelbarrow collecting water in someone’s backyard. Consequently, he said the city needs the community’s help to control the mosquito population.
“If they would simply turn that wheelbarrow upside down, that would remove that point source,” Collard said as an example.
Mosquito abatement crews might overlook some small ponds or other long-running points of standing water, Collard said. Residents can alert crews to this standing water by calling the city’s mosquito abatement hotline at 549-7819, he said.
Collard said fish eat mosquito eggs and larva in ponds. He said if a pond is too small to support fish, the city could apply larvacide to the water there with the property owner’s permission. In some cases, he said the city could help drain perennially swampy fields to remove a source of mosquitoes.
The city will still keep its pesticide fogging machine in case there is any widespread flooding in town that creates a large breeding ground for mosquitoes, the superintendent said.
Still, Collard said the city will avoid using pesticide whenever possible to avoid the possibility of any negative health affects for people and the environment.
“By indiscriminately fogging, some of that chemical could affect helpful insects,” Collard said.
Collard said cool temperatures have kept mosquitoes at bay in Charleston so far this spring, but the new mosquito abatement program is ready to go whenever the conditions change.
For more information on the mosquito abatement program, go online to www.charlestonillinois.org and click on the news releases link.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 238-6861.
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Responsible Party wrote on May 8, 2009 8:01 AM:
What about application of the "barrier walls"...these are sprayed around the periphery of areas and provide a good barrier along the treeline surrounding public areas. This technology is expensive, but very effective. Oops...I guess this technology will not be considered since Charleston's funds are targeted for City Hall and overpaid manager.
Without some type of fogging or barrier application, Charleston residents are going to be staying out of our overly-abundant parks this summer. But, then again, maybe that is the point. The city can avoid hiring the summer help to maintain them and they can remain pristeen....a complimentary accessory to the Taj. "