By Patrick Book

Regina has smaller mosquito prevention budget

May 13, 2011 | 7:00 AM

The city insists it will be extra important for you to get rid of standing water in your yard this spring as the city is operating with a lack of funding for its mosquito control program.

The city has begun its annual effort to treat standing water in and around the city in order to prevent mosquitos from springing up this summer.

The prevention program has a $300,000 budget, which pest control supervisor Wade Morrow says will fund an eight-person crew that is travelling around to public spaces like parks and sports fields to treat standing water.

The crews use a chemical called “Bt” or Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacteria that kills mosquito larvae but doesn't hurt people or animals. The crews will treat water throughout the city before moving to the outskirts to treat other patches of standing water.

However, Morrow insists they'll be facing an uphill battle.

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“The total budget in 2009 was approximately $500,000. In 2010 it was reduced, the actual funding was $475,000. This year it's $300,000,” he told reporters at a news event in south Regina Thursday afternoon.

That dwindling figure is the result of the province's decision last year to cancel a West Nile virus program. The city's share was about $275,000, which was sunk into the mosquito control program because the culex tarsalis, a breed of mosquito, is most often responsible for spreading the disease.

“We can cover the city for $300,000,” Morrow continued, “but I do expect that we're not going to be able to keep numbers as low as they have been given the conditions and given the resources.

The other reason the fight will be a tough one in 2011 is the amount of water in the city.

Mayor Pat Fiacco insists there's three times as much standing water in and around Regina as there usually is. That water is the breeding ground for mosquitos.

“There is so much water right now and because this is more of a health care issue more than anything else the municipality shouldn't be on the line for that,” he stressed.

The province has told the city the money was lumped in with the municipal operating grant (MOG), the provincial government's revenue sharing program. Fiacco doesn't think that's appropriate, noting that the intent of the MOG program is not to “give with one hand and take with the other.”

“I hope that the province isn't downloading health care responsibilities to the municipality,” he concluded. “This feels like downloading.
Fiacco is leading a charge on behalf of Saskatchewan city mayors, who held a two-day meeting in Prince Albert this week.

He's calling on the government to restore the funding from the West Nile prevention program.

In the meantime, Morrow says crews will do the best they can with what they have.

news@panow.com