City of Portsmouth, Virginia - Public Works

THE BUZZ

Volume 8, 1 (Week 18)
May 2009

The Buzz is a monthly summary used to disseminate important information about mosquitoes and mosquito control in the City of Portsmouth.

Rain and warm temperatures have helped jump start the 2009 mosquito season. Staff are doing everything we can to manage the mosquito populations. However, with all of the recent rain and staff reductions mosquito populations will increase rapidly over the next few weeks.

The photo above is from a 10 acre site at the Portsmouth landfill. Average water depth 8 inches April 1, 2009.

Special Note

Mosquito Control has not been immune to budget cuts. To date we have seen the elimination of 1 full time employee and furloughs of 56 hrs for the remaining full time staff, a total of 224 hrs from March-May 2009.

Surveillance and Control

Surveillance activities this year have been confined to breeding site inspections. In March 192 breeding site inspections were done. In April 381 breeding site inspections were done. Over the last two weeks we have found more sites breeding mosquitoes.
All control efforts will be prioritized and directed to the worst areas of mosquito breeding. We are currently focusing our efforts at the 10 acre site located at the Portsmouth Landfill.
Mosquito trapping efforts will begin in the next few weeks.
Please note that there will be no mosquito spraying conducted the weeks of May 9-17 and May 23-31 as a result of the staffing cuts and furlough policy.

Service Requests

Mosquito Control has not been immune to budget cuts. To date we have seen the elimination of 1 full time employee and furloughs of 56 hrs for the remaining full time staff, a total of 224 hrs from March-May 2009.

Federal Activities

Staff continue to meet and coordinate activities; we are currently evaluating conditions and adjusting control strategies to provide the most effective results.

How will the budget cuts will impact the mosquito control program?

The remaining staff will continue to do everything possible to manage mosquito populations. Based on past data mosquito populations are expected to regularly exceed our current program capacity. Treatment schedules will be prioritized to treat the worst areas first.
The mosquito hotline will not be updated daily, updates will only be completed when spray activities will occur.
The Buzz will not be sent out each week, for 2009 The Buzz will only be distributed once a month.
Staff will not be available to conduct property inspections and or investigate all mosquito complaint calls. Mosquito complaint calls will be logged into the system and reviewed for trends as time allows.
Mosquito Trapping efforts will start later in the season (end of May) and fewer traps will be set each week thought the season.
Only two to three sprayers will be maintained this season (This will increase the time need to spray all 9 spray routes to 4 days minimum).