Westchester, NY Seeks Protective Measures from West Nile Virus

This is the season when mosquitoes lay eggs in stagnant water including in storm drains and many are turning up positive with West Nile virus.

Westchester County Board of Legislators’ Chairman Kenneth Jenkins will propose that all storm water basins around the county be treated based on a formula from the previous winter’s weather pattern.  Currently storm drains are inspected and treated without any specific guidelines regarding seasonal temperatures, he said.

“To protect our residents, we must do a better job of killing mosquitoes in places where they thrive, like in our storm drains,” Jenkins said. “To do this, the county’s mosquito abatement decisions should be based on what kind of winter we’ve had. A mild winter, like the one we had last year, is a signal to us that we need more inspections and larvicide treatments, not less.”