With summertime around the corner, the City of Powell Sanitation Department is getting ready to fight mosquitoes — before the bugs start swarming around town.

The City of Powell will begin spraying for mosquitoes this month.

City Sanitation Superintendent Darrell Rood is hopeful that this year’s season will be similar to previous years, when mosquito activity was “quite a bit less than average.”

Last year, there were four human cases of West Nile virus reported in Wyoming, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.

The city received a $7,800 grant through the Wyoming Department of Agriculture to help reduce the risk of West Nile virus. The money allows the sanitation department to trap mosquitoes, perform counts and spray as mosquito numbers increase.

City of Powell crews will start spraying a chemical called Biomist when local residents begin seeing mosquitoes. Biomist is manufactured by Clarke Mosquito Control. More information about the spray is available at http://international.clarkemosquito.com.

Weather permitting, spraying begins at dusk and takes about four hours.

Throughout the season, crews spray as trap counts increase and as residents call in complaints.

If you do not want your property to be sprayed, call the city at 754-5106 to be put on the no-spray list.

KPOW (AM 1260) will announce plans for evening spraying between 7-7:30 a.m. on days when spraying is scheduled. The city also will announce spraying days on its website at www.cityofpowell.com.

The grant money also will pay for larvicide for city storm drains; the drains often contain standing water, which is prime mosquito habitat.

For more information about the City of Powell’s mosquito-control program, contact the Sanitation Department at 754-6941.