By Andrew de Souza

Mosquito control up to residents

Jul 8, 2011 | 6:27 AM

With warm and wet weather, residents in the area can expect yet another spike in mosquito populations.

“The first hatching is really hitting us in the last two days,” said city open parks manager Bob Gill.

“There’s definitely been an extra hatching with the water over flowing out of rivers and streams and lakes.”

With no provincial funding to control the population, Gill said it’s up to residents to take their own steps to prevent and avoid mosquitoes.

“We can’t see us spraying this year, so (it’s) just up to people to get rid of standing water, use insect repellant, wear light clothing, things like that.”

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West Nile of little concern

While they may be annoying, mosquitoes in the area are not the dangerous West Nile carrier species, culex tarsalis.

“(Those species) are not rare, but it’s more prevalent in the south where it’s warmer,” said Gill. “With our colder climate, there’s some here but not to the extent that where they’re a real danger.”

Gill said the city traps mosquitoes throughout the season and sends them to a lab in Regina weekly to test for the carriers. So far there have been few of the particular species and no instances of the disease.

He said that while the city doesn’t do any spraying, it has all the equipment necessary to control the mosquito population.

Gill said unless local disease carrying mosquitoes are found or the province issues a West Nile Virus warning, it would simply be a waste of money.

In the meantime, it’s up the residents to clear standing water on their property and take the standard measures to avoid those irritating bites.

“There’s no immediate health risk or anything. We live in Saskatchewan, we’ve got mosquitoes. They’re a nuisance but they’re not a health risk.”

adesouza@panow.com