City to begin spraying for mosquitoes

Posted 6/4/20

As the weather warms up, the City of Powell will soon ramp up its efforts to fight mosquitoes — before the bugs start swarming around town. City crews will begin spraying for mosquitoes in the …

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City to begin spraying for mosquitoes

Posted

As the weather warms up, the City of Powell will soon ramp up its efforts to fight mosquitoes — before the bugs start swarming around town. City crews will begin spraying for mosquitoes in the next few weeks.

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.”

“As dry as it has been, the mosquito count may be down this year,” Rood said.

The insects can carry the West Nile virus and last year, there were four human cases reported in Wyoming, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.

The city received a $5,000 grant through the Wyoming Department of Agriculture to help reduce the risk of West Nile virus. It was a 30% cut in funding from what the City of Powell had requested, Rood said.

The money allows the sanitation department to trap mosquitoes, perform counts and spray as mosquito numbers increase.

City crews will start spraying a chemical called Biomist when local residents begin seeing mosquitos. 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.

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