OTTUMWA, IOWA -- For Monday's Facebook story of the day, you wanted to know whether the warm, mild winter will affect the mosquito population in Southeast Iowa.
Iowa has around 40 species of mosquitoes, and while the warm weather may contribute to an early emergence of insects, it will not affect the population as a whole, and prevention of the pest won't begin any earlier in Ottumwa than in other years.
Mosquito eggs are laid in water, so spring rains and standing water is the biggest contributing factor to the population of mosquitoes. Two employees of the Ottumwa Health Department are certified in larvicide spraying.
"When the numbers are large enough in those bodies of water, we'll go ahead and take a hard pellet commercial-grade larvicide and distribute that all to the instructions," said Phil Northup, Ottumwa Nuisance Department.
The Health Department only sprays larvicide on city-owned property and public parks.
It usually only takes one killing to handle the mosquito populations, but surprise wet summers can lead to a second larvicide spraying in August.
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