Mosquito Ponds

New Detention Pond holding water at Wright Trucking created during the Company's recent parking lot expansion.

While riding the bicycle yesterday the mosquitoes were so abundant that the irritating blood suckers were attaching to the legs in mass every time I stopped or even slowed down. The mosquitoes were ferocious. Why all the mosquitoes?

Leaders urge the public to empty any standing water to remove mosquito breeding sources. Unfortunately most engineering rules mandate developers build "detention ponds" in order to slow down rain water discharge into local creeks. Rain water that would have normally seeped into the natural ground. Natural ground that the developer replaced with buildings and parking lots. The end result is now there are multitudes of detention ponds all over the City. Ponds that detain (hold) water after it rains. Standing pond water that serves as breeding grounds for mosquitos. City engineering standards actually contribute to the mosquito breeding problem. 

To make the mosquito breeding problem worse, many of the City drainage ditches have not been maintained in years. Because water will not drain as designed in many of the unmaintained ditches, some ditches hold water instead of draining after rains. Ditches holding water are also mosquito breeding grounds. The City's failure to maintain its drainage system contributes to the mosquito breeding problem.

Then there are the tons of trash trapped along most of Mobile area trash polluted waterways. Trash like styrofoam cups and plastic containers hold water if sitting upright like many are. Failure of the City to deal with their MS4 trash also contributes to the mosquito problem.

Why is it no surprise that the Ugly City of Mobile worsens the mosquito problem instead of reducing it?