Thank you to everyone who has reached out to my team and I with feedback regarding the mosquito program administered by GDG Environnement. My office will continue to work with GDG to improve the program and share the feedback we have received from many of you. Here’s a brief overview of the information GDG has shared with me:
- Flood water mosquitoes are a real challenge and their biology is not well understood. A specific type of mosquito has larvae that can delay its growth until optimal growth conditions are found in the environment. This means that even known areas that were not originally producing mosquitoes can in certain conditions start creating adult mosquitoes. As a result, areas must be visited multiple times and treated at exactly the appropriate times for it to be effective. To combat this challenge, GDG has assured me that extra personnel and resources have been brought in to combat this challenge.
- Some mosquitoes don’t travel very far. Another type of flood water mosquito only travels 500 meters and thus is very localized. To combat this challenge, GDG has installed extra traps to reduce and control the population of these mosquitoes.
- The treatment area for 2019 operations has increased compared to 2018. GDG has assured me that they will continue to monitor this and adjust as needed. Currently, in 2019, GDG treats 1,121 hectares.
- There have been four aerial treatments since April 28th and five ground treatments since April 27th.
- Treatments after rainfalls are key. GDG has assured me that they have extra resources in place and are actively monitoring weather patterns to deploy the needed additional resources at the most appropriate time to maximize the effectiveness the treatments have.
I too share the frustration that our community feels with the results we have been seeing. I will continue to share updates as I have them and encourage residents who are aware of areas that are prone to flooding to reach out to GDG by emailing info.mosquito@gdg.ca. For additional, more detailed information you can read GDG’s latest news release here: Flood water mosquitoes July 2019 – GDG Kanata-North Update.