I read with great interest and more than some degree of irritation the article on “How to fight the West Nile Virus,” in the June 12 issue of The Herald. It states: “With an estimated 2,500 detention ponds in unincorporated Snohomish County, residents can either check pond water for mosquito larvae or ask a pest management company to do it. If there’s enough larvae in the water, a business or homeowner association can apply for a permit for a pest control company to use pesticides to kill them before they can fly.”
The county has chosen to put in these unsightly detention ponds in order to facilitate developers being able to overbuild on property by draining excess water on the land into these ponds. Homeowners in the neighboring properties are not consulted, nor are their concerns of record about the ponds being answered by the county.
We are then told to check these ponds for mosquito larvae and if there are enough larvae then a business or homeowner association can apply for a permit to hire a pest control company to spray pesticides before the larvae can grow and fly. The ponds are cyclone fenced and locked. How are property owners supposed to get access to the ponds to find larvae? How many of the 2,500 ponds will go unchecked and unsprayed?
The Snohomish Health District is concerned enough about mosquitoes that it has asked homeowners to be sure to turn over pots, clean gutters and be careful that leaves of plants don’t hold water, while another county department has large retention ponds built that could be the largest mosquito breeding areas of all.
Lynnwood
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