Don’t freak out when you see low-flying helicopters dropping a granular substance over your neighborhood. That was the general drift of a County Public Health Department press release. It’s all part of an effort to kill mosquitoes and, more importantly, West Nile Virus carried by mosquitoes, which can “pose a risk to public health.” And horses too.
The aerial mosquito treatments will be focused on Laguna Lake on Aug. 12, the last and possibly final drop of larvicide for the year. According to the press release, “Continuing hot weather and other factors may render it prudent to treat the lake area again in September and October to minimize mosquito-breeding in Laguna Lake.”
Helicopters will be dropping larvicide pellets that contain Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus sphaericus, which are “naturally occurring bacteria registered by the EPA for mosquito control.” The larvicide then dissolves in the lake, killing mosquito larvae.
-J.P.
This article appears in Aug 4-11, 2005.