|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
This week, the Santa Clara County Vector Control District started utilizing a new tool to drive down the local mosquito population: drones.
The unmanned aerial systems are being used to control mosquito larvae and prevent the spread of West Nile virus and other diseases along the San Francisco Bay, the district said in a press release issued Monday, May 1.
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved on April 18 the vector control district’s drone program, which involves releasing larvicide in nonresidential areas such as marshland and other remote spaces.
“The Vector Control District’s new drone program will protect not only public health but also our staff and the surrounding environment,” Edgar Nolasco, director of the county’s Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency, said in the release. “Applying larvicide with drones is precise and effective and minimizes disruption to the ecosystem along the Bay.”
Drones free up district staff from going through difficult terrain to apply the treatment themselves, lowers the impact on the ecosystem and allows for more accurate application of larvicide, according to the district.
The county has served as the breeding ground for mosquitoes, which have the ability to transmit West Nile virus and other diseases once they become adults, and in some cases fly up to 25 miles in the Bay Area.
Mosquitoes tend to be active in the summer and fall, during which time the warm weather accelerates their life cycle.
West Nile virus is California’s most common and severe vector-borne disease, which has claimed nearly 400 deaths across the state since 2003 when it was first located in California. A majority of people who contract the virus don’t experience symptoms, but some may experience mild ones comparable to the flu. The risk rises when the immunocompromised and elderly catch the disease.
This past winter’s record storms has led to more standing water in the region, which are ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed. In light of this, the district has called on county residents to get rid of stagnant water every week. Other steps the public can take include draining flowerpots, pet dishes and other objects that can hold water; cleaning items such as bird baths; regularly removing debris from rain gutters; and making sure rain barrels and irrigation drains are properly screened.
Anyone who is facing issues with mosquitoes or wants to report a possible mosquito-breeding source can contact the vector control district by calling 408-918-4770, sending an email to vectorinfo@cep.sccgov.org or sending an online service request at vector.sccgov.org/online-service-request.
https://www.planetary.org/articles/10050900-finding-new-language
Since 2006, the NASA History Program Office Style Guide has stated: “All references referring to the space program should be non-gender specific (e.g. human, piloted, un-piloted, robotic).”
Just a suggestion for future articles about drones. 🙂
You failed to include the most important information, what larvicide are they applying?
Probably the same larvicide as always, but I don’t remember what it is.
Statistics have shown that a mosquito that bit you was born within 25 feet of your location. Mosquito larva require algae for food that only grows in standing stagnant water. Eliminate the standing water and the algae and you eliminate the mosquitos.