SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — With all the rain we’ve been getting, the weather has been perfect for mosquitoes.
That’s why the city is gearing up to start spraying, but crews are very selective as to what neighborhoods they’ll start spraying first.
“I’m absolutely glad they do that,” Jill Wolfson said.
Jill Wolfson, who we found on the city’s bike path Friday with a small group of others, including her daughter, appreciates it when the city starts spraying for mosquitoes.
“Because I do not like mosquitoes, especially with my child, I’m nervous about the diseases mosquitoes carry,” Wolfson said.
Diseases like West Nile.
The city expects West Nile to be an issue this summer, just like it has been every summer in the past because City Health Program Coordinator Denise Patton says we are the West Nile capital of the world.
“South Dakota is just where they like to be; they think it has a lot to do with agriculture, irrigation, waters that dry out periodically that sort of thing. For whatever reason those mosquitoes like it here, they are happy,” City Health Program Coordinator Denise Patton said.
And that makes us unhappy.
That’s why the city will soon order an all-out assault on mosquitoes.
They’ll mobilize several trucks like this one to begin spraying for the summertime pests.
The city says it strategically places mosquito traps throughout 17 zones in the city that are assigned a number.
When those traps capture a certain number of mosquitoes, that’s how they determine when to start spraying and where which is typically the first or second week in June.
But so far, Wolfson says they haven’t noticed any mosquitoes.
“We’ve actually sat in the grass to take a couple of breaks and we’ve had no mosquitoes on us while sitting in the grass,” Wolfson said.
To see which zone you live in and when the city will target your neighborhood, click here for an interactive map.
