Kanata North mosquito larvae kill to start April 21
Residents in the ward to pay for mosquito control program after special referendum
Pesticides to kill off mosquito larvae will be sprayed in Kanata North between April 21 and Sept. 15, after residents voted in favour of paying an annual levy to fund the program in an effort to control the spread of the bugs in their neighbourhoods.
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GDG Environment, hired by the City of Ottawa, will make daily applications of liquid larvicide meant to prevent mosquito larvae from hatching. The company will also drop pellets by helicopter over the next two weeks, the city said in a news release.
The program will use naturally occurring bacteria — Bti (Bacillus Thuringiensis Israelensis) and Bs (Bacillus Sphaericus — which has "no effect on humans, birds, fish, animals or other insects, but destroys the stomachs of mosquito larvae that hatch in water," according to the City of Ottawa.
The $1.5-million, four-year contract does not target adult mosquitoes. The cost of the program will be borne entirely by residents, at a cost of about $20 per household annually.
Kanata North households voted 72 per cent in favour of the levy during a special referendum, but only 18.5 per cent of the nearly 13,700 households in the area cast ballots.
