Complaints are also an excellent source for finding unknown or new mosquito breeding habitats. Many breeding areas are located in areas that are unknown to an agency or they are located on private property where an inspector would be hesitant to explore. These areas might never be located if a complaint did not bring them to the attention of an agency. A complaint can also help determine the parameters for future adulticides. An example would be a new development in an area that previously did not require mosquito control.
Many agencies also use numbers of complaints to determine when to adulticide established areas.
In this case, the public is actually being used as a major surveillance tool. The complaint is also used in tandem with other surveillance methods. Many agencies use the complaint as a verification of their other surveillance methods. Along with being used as a verification, the complaint is also used to determine the effectiveness of an agency's treatment program, both larval and adult. An example would be when an agency decides to adulticide an area by either a ground fogging or an airspray.