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April 25, 2008

Westerly tries to take a bite out of mosquitoes

WESTERLY -- To rein in mosquito breeding, a helicopter will drop larvicide on 500 swamp acres on Monday -- something the town has carried out yearly since 1997.

The larvicide will be applied from 7 a.m. to noon. If there's a rain-out, the action will be moved to the first available following date. Larvicide may be applied on future days as well after the town issues notification.

Chapman's Swamp and the swamp next to Hespar Drive will be targeted, a state Department of Environmental Management news release said today. The DEM approved the town's application to apply the larvicide called Bti in the target areas. Bti is described as a naturally occurring bacterium that is applied in granular form to swamps and other mosquito breeding grounds to stop larval mosquitos from reaching adulthood.

The town is notifying homeowners next to the targeted areas and the public of what's intended, the DEM said.

The DEM said the state is not advocating "wide-scale aerial application of larvicide" and recommended that most cities/towns apply larvicide by hand in road-side catch basins. But Chapman Swamp in Westerly is "unique," the DEM said, because it is large and inaccessible due to presence in 1996 and 2003 of Eastern Equine Encephalitis-carrying mosquiotes.

Westerly started in 1997 using the Bti larvicide after the disease-carrying mosquitoes were found to be breeding in Chapman Swamp.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 1:36 PM | Permalink

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