People in Regina are scratching after increase in mosquitoes

Pull out the After Bite and bug spray, because Regina’s mosquito count has flown higher.

Russell Eirich, the City of Regina’s manager of open space services, said the mosquito population has grown significantly since Saturday.

“Our average trap count was 98 mosquitoes per trap,” Eirich said. “Our historical average is 21 mosquitoes per trap, so we’re four times that number basically.”

The all-time worst mark for that week was 107 mosquitoes per trap.

“Outside of our control area, those mosquitoes are 187 per trap,” Eirich said. “So we know our program is working and we are bringing down those numbers down comparatively for what we’re treating in town versus, say, outside of our mosquito control area.”

Since the May long weekend, Saskatchewan has received two large downpours of rain. Combined, those two rain events created 138 millimetres of rain or just under 5 1/2 inches of water.

“Mosquitoes really like that water,” Eirich said. “They’re developing in those water bodies and that’s why we’re seeing them emerge.

“We think right now that we’ve peaked. We think that the population is going to go down here over the next week or so. We’ll still be above the average, but it isn’t going to be as bad as what it was.”

In terms of the rest of the summer, Eirich said it was all dependent on Mother Nature.

“If we get some nice drying weather we should continue to see a downward trend,” Eirich said. “If we start to get into those cyclical nights where we’re getting a lot of daytime heating and then thunderstorm activity in the evenings, we’re going to see those water bodies maintained and we’ll see the mosquitoes continue to work.”

Currently, to deal with the mosquito population, the city is looking at the water bodies to rid the water of larvae.

“If we see mosquito larvae in (water), we’re treating it with a biological product called VectoBac and then we’re treating those water bodies,” Eirich said. “We’re trying to get the mosquito larvae before they emerge as adults, and that’s our control program.

“On that note, we are asking residents to get into their backyards and take a look around for anything that they can do to help lower mosquitoes. That would be simply emptying empty paint cans that are holding some standing water. If you have a birdbath that you’re not actively using and not changing the water out, please just empty it. If you have a rain barrel, cover it with some mesh and keep the mosquitoes from laying the eggs.

“It’s all about our habits and how we can battle mosquitoes just by changing our habits.”