This year, city officials say they will require a higher threshold of evidence before launching wide-scale spraying on adult mosquitoes, which have an 8 to 10 day life cycle. Instead, the city plans to primarily rely on sewer and basin traps, bug-eating fish, larvae treatments and surveillance, Mullin said. Any spraying will be limited to a 1-mile radius of an infected area. Environmental groups still denounced the plan, calling it too vague and saying it leaves open the possibility of using pesticides. Mullin said the pesticide the city uses, Anvil, is risk-free when used properly.
Mosquitoes contract the potentially deadly West Nile virus by feeding on infected birds.