Mosquito season is on its way and the City of Saskatoon is already working to reduce the insects’ population.
The City of Saskatoon announced Friday that its annual mosquito control campaign was underway.
The campaign focuses primarily on limiting the insects in their aquatic life stage, but crews do monitor adult mosquito populations.
Crews monitor small bodies of water within 945 square kilometres of the city when monitoring early mosquito populations, according to the city’s website. The frequency of larvae determines whether or not a body of water should be treated with natural insecticide.
Mosquito larvae can develop in just small amounts of water left standing for four days or more, the city said.
Residents were reminded to watch out for standing water on their properties. The city requested residents ensure items such as pool covers, bird baths, flower pot saucers, pet bowls and wading pools were regularly emptied, to clean eaves troughs regularly, and to ensure openings in rain barrels are covered with mosquito screening.
There are 19 different mosquito species found in Saskatoon, according to the city. The species can generally be referred to as “nuisance” or “vector” mosquitos.
Crews are currently watching nuisance mosquitos but will pay close attention to vector mosquitos later in the summer. Vector mosquitos can transmit diseases such as the West Nile virus.
The city tracks the West Nile virus and monitors adult mosquito populations using light traps.
