Perth Voice Interactive

MOSQUITOES have become “intolerable” around Maylands, leading Bayswater’s deputy mayor to question whether the City is doing all it can to give residents living around the river some relief.

“As someone who lives in Maylands and is affected by this as well, I fully share the frustration and concern by others,” Cr Elli Petersen-Pik said.

“It has always been an issue, but this is really a crisis.”

Cr Petersen-Pik said he’d been told the current La Nina weather pattern had pushed up tides and created prevailing winds that were fuelling the problem.

Tides

“I’m also aware that there is currently an unprecedented increase of mozzies at Gibbney Reserve and around the Maylands Peninsula Primary School. 

“The nearby drainage area was treated a week ago, but following my request, it was treated again on Tuesday before the school year started,” the deputy mayor said.

At January’s council meeting, he asked the council’s community services director Bianca Sandri what the City had done so far, and was that the best they could offer.

Ms Sandri said Bayswater was so thorough in its pest control that other councils sought them out for advice, particularly their drone program which allows them to target midges in hard-to-reach locations.

“This year, we are experiencing higher tides due to the weather pattern, and that is something that we cannot control,” Ms Sandri said.

“We are treating more than we have in previous years in response to the issues that are being raised, however… the prevailing winds do bring in mosquitoes from other areas, which does cause some difficulty.”

Ms Sandri said the City had been placing traps on residential properties and tracking mosquito movements to identify where they spring from, noting there was a mix coming from the river and from peoples’ properties.

“The environmental health team is an innovative bunch, as we have experienced with the treatment of midge [sic].

“If there was something more that we could be doing that is innovative, then I would suggest we would be doing it.”

Ms Bianci said it was an issue being felt by other councils along the river, who Bayswater continued to liaise with.

by STEVE GRANT