The District of Sicamous is stepping up its mosquito control program to include spraying for adult insects.
The district has agreed to adulticide residences that qualify through a public petitioning process following Wednesday’s evening council meeting.
Residents had come to the meeting itching for answers from the district’s mosquito control contractor, BWP Consulting owner Cheryl Phippen, as to why the mosquitoes are so bad.
Phippen explained that larvaciding began in May at approximately 100 known larvae sites in Sicamous. The first application of larvacide by helicopter took place in June.
“And basically, we had a really good result for about a month, and then the waters began to rise, particularly the lake,” said Phippen, who explained the district is currently dealing with flood mosquitoes hatched by rising waters, and whose lives have been prolonged by the lingering cool, wet weather.
“I don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s ineffective – you need to do something different,” commented Neil Kelly, a resident of Silver Sands road where the mosquitoes have been especially bad. Phippen said she has since been able to treat large larvae sites that day that previously were off limits due to federal regulation.
District administrator Alan Harris said the sudden change stemmed from complaints by the public and ongoing lobbying by BWP.
“This was dealt with by BWP back in 2009… But the province rejected in 2009 what we could do,” said Harris. “The feds rejected what we could do. It was only after intense, I guess, lobbying by BWP that the province and the federal government have, in a round-about way, allowed the district to deal with the situation.”
Phippen expects, with the recent round of treatment, that the mosquitoes should begin to die off over the next couple of weeks. But the attending public wasn’t satisfied, and pushed for treatment of adult mosquitoes with Malathion, a controversial insecticide found to be toxic to mammals and aquatic life.
District works services manager Grady MacDonald said spraying would occur on Old Town Road where allowable. However, residents wanting to spray will have to follow provincial guidelines and will require approval of neighbours, all part of the required petition process. More information, as well as the applications to have the district spray, is available at www.sicamous.ca.