The City of Weyburn plans to maintain the same level of mosquito control this summer as it has provided in the recent past, because it works, said city parks planner Claude Morin last week.

The one difference between this year and previous years is that the Saskatchewan government may pick up some of the city's cost through its $1.2 million provincial West Nile virus control program.

This spring, the province announced it will offer $1 million to urban and rural communities to help control mosquitos and reduce the threat of West Nile virus, while smaller municipalities with populations of less than 2,000 are asked to submit joint proposals with neighbouring communities. The government will split the municipalities' costs on a 50-50 basis, to a maximum of $1 per capita.

Weyburn's program costs between $8,000-$10,000 on average, depending on the amount of rain and standing water during the summer, said Morin. The program involves the distribution of a granular bacterial product over water bodies and low areas within the city boundaries, to poison the mosquito larva before they reach the adult stage. The larvaciding, as it is called, will begin soon and continue through summer at seven-to-10 day intervals, he said.

The city is also reviewing a public information campaign to explain what people can do in their own back yards to reduce or eliminate mosquitoes, said Morin.

Weyburn halted its mosquito fogging program in 1995. Morin said a significant amount of concern from the public about the indiscriminate distribution of toxic pesticides in residential areas and parks, where children and pets are present, led to a review of the process and discontinuation of the fogging.

Fogging knocks down the adult mosquitos for a couple of hours at most, said Morin, while costing $700-$800 a night for labour and chemicals for two or three weeks at a time in summer. But mosquitos can travel 20 km. a day on the wind so the next day the problem can be just as bad, he said. "Circumstances are different in different places but for us, it's not an acceptable option right now."

The city's fogging equipment has since been sold.