There are two things associated with summer in Mississippi: oppressive heat and humidity and the presence of mosquitoes. Summers in Columbus are no different.
But while some cities are still using traditional spraying methods to combat the flying nuisances to public health, Columbus Public Works Director Mike Pratt, said Columbus hasn’t used the spraying method for years.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve sprayed,” Pratt said. “We use a larvicide pellet. We place the pellets in standing water and other areas where mosquitoes breed. This keeps them from becoming biting adults. We try to get them before they are born.”
Gone are the days when trucks cruised through the streets, trailing a dense fog of pesticides that hung like a moist blanket over the neighborhood.
Even those cities that still use fogging for mosquito control are judicious in where they spray.
Starkville’s Integrated Pest Management program (IPM), in operation for three years now, is a combination of techniques that help with species identification, research and extermination.
Starkville City Engineer Edward Kemp said he began his position at roughly the same time as the adoption of the IPM, but the only practice he was really aware of was spraying — often and everywhere.
“We aren’t just going and spraying all the time, all over town, no matter what,” Kemp said. “The spraying alone is, of course, the typical approach, but it definitely has its drawbacks.”
Just spraying to control mosquito populations can be a wasteful endeavor according to Kemp, particularly when weather is not favorable.
“If it’s windy or if it’s been extremely dry, it may not be very effective,” he said. “And if it’s cold weather, you are basically wasting your money. It just isn’t a good use of resources.”
In the past, the months leading up to the summer were used for “mosquito surveillance.” The Streets Department had interns from Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks who would set up traps at different locations in town and locate the highest mosquito populations and prime breeding sites. This information combined with the complaints filed by the public was used to determine the areas of highest concern in the city.
Mosquitoes tend to breed in wet, shady areas and the best way to decrease adult numbers is to stop the mosquitoes at the larval level. Kemp said the department hired personnel to walk the drainage ways throughout the city, especially after heavy rains, larvaciding areas of standing water, with EPA approved golf-ball-sized pellets.
“I think the surveillance now is the guys walking the drainage ways; they can tell if an area is or could be really infested,” he said.
According to Kemp, a lot of the complaints come from older neighborhoods where there is, of course, water, but also a lot more tree growth.
“I just think there are certain areas where the environment is more favorable for a quick mosquito population progression,” he said. “But to be honest, mosquitoes are every where, so you have to stay on top of the problem.”
Dispatch reporter Jeff Clark contributed to this report
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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