The Cupertino Courier
News
Pools observed in survey may be mosquito breeding grounds
By SHANNON BURKEY
An aerial survey taken by the Santa Clara County Vector Control District unveiled 212 backyard pools that could be possible breeding grounds for West Nile-infected mosquitoes.
On July 21, the district sent a plane into the air to survey a 25-square-mile area, known as the "hot zone," that included parts of West San Jose, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Saratoga and Campbell. These are the areas that have had the most mosquito activity recently.
Backyard sources have been a major concern to vector control, but the district has not had the access or means to check them all, according to the community resource specialist Kriss Costa. By doing the aerial survey, the district was able to narrow down the worst backyard sources and go door to door to inspect them.
The decision to use this approach was made after a fogging last month did not make the impact the district had hoped it would since the night the fogging occurred was cold and was followed by three hot and humid days, which led to a lot of mosquito activity.
Field technicians will be sent out to inspect the back yards of the suspected sources, and treat those proven to be mosquito breeding grounds. They will start with 60 pools that are a high priority, meaning they are either only half full or the water is green. Pools that test positive will be treated with an oil that kills mosquito larvae.
Owners will have two weeks after the treatment to get their pools back into working condition. If they choose not to cooperate, the district can begin a formal abatement process and levy fines of up to $1,000 a day, said district assistant manager Russ Parman.
Owners of pools that are in poor condition will be given three options by vector control: They can drain the pool, buy a new filter or let technicians stock their pool with mosquito fish that eat the mosquito's eggs and larvae.
Although 34 birds and five groups of mosquitoes have tested positive for the West Nile virus in Santa Clara County to date, none of the mosquito trappings in the last two weeks have produced infected mosquitoes, according to Costa. However, infected birds are still being found in the initial hot zone.
Vector control says now that it has found some of the sources of the mosquitoes, it can fog the area again soon. No date has been set, but Costa says they would like the treatment of the pools and the fogging to go hand-in-hand.
