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8.2.2000
State, town plan to spray
Westerly mosquito larvae
WESTERLY
-- After finding mosquito larvae "well exceeding" acceptable numbers in the Chapman Swamp, state and local officials announced that they will spray larvicide in the area on Friday.
A helicopter will spray a commonly used larvicide, called BTI, on 700 acres of swamp land, including the Chapman Swamp and the area adjacent to Hespar Drive. The spraying will take place from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The goal is to use the chemical -- which is safe for other wildlife -- to control larvae before they hatch, said John Fusaro, Westerly's superintendent of public works.
The spraying will take place about a week after the state Department of Environmental Management first detected the Highland-J virus in mosquitoes trapped in Chapman Pond.
The Highland-J virus is not a threat to humans, but it indicates that conditions are ripe for mosquitoes to breed and carry potentially dangerous viruses, such as Eastern equine encephalitis, Alan Gettman, the state's mosquito abatement coordinator, said recently.
The EEE virus has killed three people in Rhode Island since 1983. It is rare, but very dangerous since it is fatal about 50 percent of the time, and in 1996, DEM repeatedly found EEE in mosquitoes trapped in Chapman Pond.
This week, Gettman and the town's mosquito control consultant tested the pond area and found a number of larvae well in excess of the threshold that calls for spraying, Fusaro said.
According to Fusaro, residents need not take any special precautions during the spraying. He described the larvicide as "a cornmeal type of substance" that is easily controllable and not harmful to anything but the mosquito larvae. In addition, it will affect only the drop area, which is not residential, he said.
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