With all of the news concerning the dangers posed by mosquitoes, you would think that citizens would band together in order to prevent heavy mosquito migrations into residential neighborhoods. Sadly, this degree of cooperation will likely require a catastrophic mosquito-borne epidemic before fear motivates citizens to take action. However, many people are under the impression that they cannot do anything to influence mosquito behavior. This would seem true, but the fact is that many mosquito prevention measures already exist, and they are not difficult to practice. One of the primary factors that attracts mosquitoes into unwanted areas where humans dwell is standing water. By allowing puddles or containers of water to sit on your property, you are also increasing the probability that your neighbors will contract a mosquito-borne disease, and you too. This is due to the fact that mosquitoes flock toward standing water in order to reproduce, and multiply their numbers. Certainly anyone can see how detrimental it is to leave standing water sources lying about on your property during the summer season. However, a government operation to reduce neglected swimming pools has uncovered the fact that many California residents are not doing their part in the effort to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
You can understand why unattended swimming pools are a major concern to public health officials. If experts believe that a small bird feeder full of water can attract mosquito swarms, then imagine how problematic neglected swimming pools must be to the public. The county’s mosquito abatement district recently used a helicopter in order to gain an aerial view of the landscape in residential areas. This aerial view revealed the existence of numerous swimming pools that had fallen into neglect and disrepair. Some of these pools had been neglected for so long that large amounts of algae had formed in some of the pools as a result. Algae itself also attracts mosquitoes, as algae provides massive amounts of sustenance for developing mosquito larvae. In response to these many algae filled pools, government technicians have been busy removing the algae from these privately owned or abandoned homes as a public health measure.
If you are, or were, a pool owner do you believe that you would drain your pool when necessary in order to minimize the presence of mosquitoes?
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