Regina mosquito population on the rise after recent rainfall | Globalnews.ca

There has been a lot of rain in the Queen City over the last two weeks, and that can mean only one thing – mosquitoes.

Regina’s mosquito numbers are above the historical average for this time of year, and it looks like those numbers will continue to climb.

According to the latest data set from the City of Regina, trap counts are averaging about 107 mosquitoes per trap. This is nearly three times the historical average of 41 per trap.

“Now, that said, it could be a lot worse,” said Russel Eirich, manager of Open Space Services for the City of Regina. “If I remember back to the ’90s, I think we were averaging about 4,000 mosquitoes and that was the basis of our mosquito control program.”

Eirich said the city is working seven days a week to help control the mosquito population by spraying bodies of water with a biological product called Vectobac.

“So we know the program’s working but at the same time, Mother Nature still is competitive with us,” he said.

The increase in mosquitoes comes as recent rain was followed by hot temperatures.

“Throughout the entire summer, until this week, we were actually below the average,” Eirich said. “Now we’ve crossed the threshold for being above. I expect we’ll see another week above the average, maybe two, and then hopefully that will begin to drop.”

He said anyone wanting to combat mosquitoes around their house can do so by removing any standing water – in eavestroughs, rain barrels, birdbaths or containers – to limit their breeding grounds.

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