Some Cities Filling Abandoned Swimming Pools With Mosquito-eating Fish to Combat the Spread of West Nile Virus

I came across an interesting article  in the Realty Times today explaining what many city officials from Washington D.C. to California are doing to combat the spread of the West Nile virus due to unattended swimming pools in foreclosed homes.  As mosquitoes can lay eggs in only a few inches of stagnant water, abandoned swimming pools with large surface areas have become a big health problem for many cities.

[caption id="attachment_245" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Mosquito"][/caption]

The answer is rather logical…release mosquito-eating minnows in vacated swimming pools to consume mosquito larvae.  

 

Cities such as Phoenix, AZ have seen an increase in foreclosed homes with abandoned pools rise from 6,000 in 2007 to 14,000 this year. And, as many warm weather foreclosed homes often have swimming pools the mosquito population has increased congruently.

 It seems that many swimming pools cannot be drained as the weight of the water is what keeps the pool shells in the ground.

The article states, “Some cities are pulling old swim pool construction permits and checking the addresses against foreclosure records to get a better handle on the number of abandoned pools.”

Using minnows is an interesting and clever solution.  (I would not want to be the owner, though, who has to clean the dead minnows out of the pool!)

I am often amazed at how really far this foreclosure disaster has permeated so many areas of our daily lives.

 

 

Janine Gregor

 

Tagged with: foreclosure • janine gregor • Real Estate • swimming pools • your virtual wizard

Filed under: Pool Construction • Real Estate • inground swimming pools

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