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By the Herald editorial staff
A new proposal by the Department of Ecology could make for a miserable summer.
The department wants to prohibit mosquito control from spraying near water unless the mosquitoes being targeted are shown to carry disease.
That would mean people who live near open water, spend time on our rivers or visit our shorelines would have to live with the biting blood-suckers unless it's proved they're carrying a disease like the West Nile virus.
In the absence of convincing proof that mosquito control methods are dangerous, the restrictions make no sense. And the Benton County Mosquito Control District agrees.
Let's face it: Mosquitoes and water go together. Mosquitoes live and breed near water. That makes spraying near water the only viable way to control these sometimes deadly pests.
The Department of Ecology worries that residual spray will contaminate Mid-Columbia waters and harm -- wait for this -- salmon.
It seems all you have to do these days is utter the word salmon and common sense goes out the window.
The label on the spray used by local mosquito control districts does warn that the chemical is toxic to fish and nonvertebrates.
But it also states that the products can be safely used over water to target adult mosquitoes.
Toxic but safe may sound like a contradiction, but as Angela Balint of Benton County Mosquito Control explains, the small amount of product used breaks down and becomes so diluted that it isn't even detectable in our waterways.
The spray also is safe for use on food crops, pastures and residential areas. Pesticide practices have come a long way in the last few decades.
It's not clear why the state suddenly decided to update its mosquito control regulations. The Department of Ecology says it just wants to make it easier to kill adult mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus.
Mosquito control officials say the proposed changes will render useless a spray program that's safe and effective.
Federal law requires the state to issue a permit any time pollutants will be released into waterways. The rules do allow for spray for larvae in or near the water.
The state says districts can also spray for adult mosquitoes under the new guidelines, but won't be allowed to get any of the spray in the water. That's a challenge given the nature of mosquitoes.
Local districts interpret the proposal to mean they'll have to leave buffers along the water's edge, creating a zone where the mosquitoes will thrive.
Ecology says it is trying to help by also giving districts the ability to spray for adult mosquitoes if public health is at risk. But waiting to prove that the bugs carry disease may be too late.
Nine people in Benton County got West Nile last year, and a Sunnyside woman died from the virus. Seventy-one horses were infected. About half of those animals died or were euthanized.
That's before mosquito control efforts were compromised. So we don't think it's a good idea to wait for those kind of numbers before mosquitoes can be dealt with. How much higher will the toll be then?
And disease aside, mosquitoes are a nuisance. We like to spend our summers outdoors and near the water. Those who lived here before the mosquito control districts formed will remember the misery and the itching.
Wearing long sleeves and staying indoors just aren't options for folks here during the hot days of summer.
The Department of Ecology needs to be more concerned with public health, especially when the case for environmental harm is so nebulous.
The state needs to take another look at the chemicals used and the love affair mosquitoes have with water before tying the hands of our local control districts.
