Mosquito playground ‘is under our window’
Stagnant public reservoirs are breeding areas for island pest
Msida reservoir: a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
While households are being warned to mop up the slightest puddles to prevent insect breeding grounds, public reservoirs are a veritable mosquito-fest.
Following an article on the surge of bites all over the island, readers pointed out that open reservoirs could often be seen “swarming with mosquitoes”.
“Health authorities are telling us to drain away even water from buckets in the yard, and yet down the road we have this enormous, stagnant pool of water,” said Carmen Galea, 63, from Santa Venera.
The Msida reservoir in Valley Road, which is only a few minutes away from Ms Galea’s house, is almost full to the brim of rain water but it is visibly stagnant, full of green moss and insects buzzing around.
“Our feet are polka-dotted with mosquito bites,” said Ms Galea, referring to herself and two of her children.
“My husband and my eldest son are lucky, they never seem to get bitten.”
The problem started last year. “Before it was just normal mosquitoes, now we are being left with these huge red itchy blotches,” she said.
The area surrounding the reservoir in the limits of Pembroke is littered with rubbish and The Times spotted a dead pigeon. The reservoir is only a few steps away from the Institute of Tourism Studies kitchens, where food is handled every day.
Pembroke Mayor Joe Zammit said the area is cleaned every couple of months, but some people who frequent the area at weekends “might not have a sense of civic responsibility”.
He said the local council would like to see the reservoir – a catchment for the water coming down from High Ridge – covered up like the one in Żurrieq.
“We have no funds to cover it up ourselves, but some sort of lid would be ideal as it would allow us to use the surface for activities.”
The Environment Landscapes Consortium uses the reservoir when it needs to water anything in the vicinity.
ELC General Manger Ronald Cuschieri said: “We have the right to tap water, but its maintenance is not in our remit.”
A Resources Ministry spokesman confirmed that it is responsible for the upkeep of the reservoirs.
“We clean them in the summer months but not in winter when they get filled up,” he said, explaining that these are soak-away reservoirs.
“Their purpose is that the water seeps in the ground and fills up the water table. We cannot cover them up,” he said.
Rubbish littering areas around the reservoirs is the responsibility of the local councils.
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28 Comments
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Tony Zammit
Oct 15th 2012, 18:07
http://www.josephinechetcuti.com/2012/10/in-nemus.html
Ms Sylvia Zammit
Oct 15th 2012, 16:55
il-hmar iwahhal f'denbu!
B. Jones
Oct 15th 2012, 15:35
All one needs is a particular bacteria, called Bacillus thuringiensis, which can be purchased all over Europe as a natural pest control for a few cents per tablet.
B.T. is a naturally occurring bacterial disease of insects and is considered safe to people and non-target species, such as wildlife.
Just google it.
James Tyrrell
Oct 15th 2012, 14:41
Clean these reservoirs up then introduce fish to deal with the mosquitoes, then introduce tourists to deal with the fish. This is an excellent opportunity for the MTA to step in and turn this from an insect infested puddle into a money making tourist attraction. Reservoirs in the UK make big money from fishing licences.
Marco Cremona
Oct 15th 2012, 14:01
The 'reservoir' in question is not a reservoir per se but a soakaway i.e. it collected stormwater off the streets and loses the water to the bedrock. That is, it should have a porous bottom. One should investigate why the soakaway is not losing its water as it was designed too. It may be the case that a bed of silt has accumulated which needs to be removed.
V Mercieca
Oct 15th 2012, 13:11
Most people put an eel in their wells to keep it free from mosquitos.
Can't the local council put a couple of eels in these stagnant waters?
Karen Zammit Manduca
Oct 15th 2012, 14:16
But then what will happen to eels or fish when the reservoirs empty during the dry months?
Mr phil sam
Oct 15th 2012, 12:59
Have a walk around the Salina salt pans project and see the amount of stagnant water, enhanced by the foul smell. Still we only have to wait " until the end of next year", to be back to normal ?.
C Cassar
Oct 15th 2012, 12:56
I would have thought that covering resevoirs such as this would be a benefit as it would stop most of the evapouration that takes place. The resevoirs are not filled directly when it rains, the water comes from the surrounding valleys so a cover would make no difference to the water supply.
Alfred Cauchi
Oct 15th 2012, 14:01
A very stupid idea, Did you ever open the well in your house , this is covered but still infested with mosquitoes , Covering is not going to do any better ,
A. Sciberras
Oct 15th 2012, 11:22
It's certainly not the authorities' fault if it rained once and did not rain again,i.e. one of the reasons why we have a more widespread problem with mosquitoes. Let us not interfer with nature and forget insecticides, as this will end up in our seas & lungs. Please Msida Local Council do install a camera or have wardens patrolling the area as the dumping next to the bring insites is atrocious.
Nyal Xuereb
Oct 15th 2012, 11:21
Simply introduce fish in the reserviors.
Joanna Borg
Oct 15th 2012, 11:21
I live in Attard and there are no reservoirs in our area, what we do have though are neglected building sites, constuction sites with flooded basements and adjacent properties with stagnant water due to the rubble that was deposited there!
Paul Caruana
Oct 15th 2012, 10:58
Surely there must be some way to make this stagnant water "soak - away" more quickly underground, giving less time for mosquitoes to breed
Ramon Casha
Oct 15th 2012, 10:57
Either cover them up or introduce some small fish which feed on the mosquito larvae.
Mr Alex Phillips
Oct 15th 2012, 12:31
Fresh water carp will do it. They can become a pest in themselves, but they are also good recreation fishing!
Paul Gatt
Oct 15th 2012, 10:53
Everypone shoots from the hip. Are we meant to drain all open reservoirs?
JOSEPH MUSCAT
Oct 15th 2012, 10:51
Have the medical Health department advised the people of Malta about the DENQUE FEVER if not you better find out about it, last case i read about it was in Madiera Island last week, and its very dangerous,it`s well known in S.E.A. and S.A.
Victor Laiviera
Oct 15th 2012, 10:32
"“Their purpose is that the water seeps in the ground and fills up the water table. We cannot cover them up,” he said."
Why not? The water would still seep away if the reservoir is covered.
Paul Azzopardi
Oct 15th 2012, 10:02
I live in Sta Venera and have also noticed a larger than whats used to in the amount of mosquitos about. This year its iether been unusually noticable or something has really happened to have brought on this increase of mossies. I can't believe it's the last rain storm as it has so almost every year with the storms so thats not unusual.
Christian Borg
Oct 15th 2012, 09:47
I hope no one does something silly like what was done in the valleys of Marsa near the golf course where the valley was covered with concrete, as this would induce floods!
Joseph Micallef
Oct 15th 2012, 09:44
Maybe some kind of netting should be used that allows in water but not mosquitoes! We cannot continue to endure such pests simply because of such reservoirs...and I don't even live in the vicinity! The authorities cannot let this plague unattended! It is a summer plague - one which is preventing people going out at times to avoid being bitten! Any concern for the tourist industry for example?
Michael Zarb
Oct 15th 2012, 09:30
Some guppies should help.
victor bonello
Oct 15th 2012, 12:12
not guppies, but mosquito fish - they look like guppies but are not so colourful and far more aggressive as well as hardy.
Saviour Sam Agius
Oct 15th 2012, 09:19
Why can't they be covered up? Would water not seep into the ground if they were covered? If they're supposed to be soak-away reservoirs, why do they have cement on the bottom?
Peter Murray
Oct 15th 2012, 09:18
An early morning and evening mass spraying of insecticide -as commonly seen in many foreign countries where mosquitoes aboung and on a daily basis-is what is called for -as these breeding grounds are the nemus playgrounds .
B. Jones
Oct 15th 2012, 15:24
Have you ever heard about asthma, Mr. Murray?
Peter Murray
Oct 15th 2012, 20:20
Ever heard of Dengue Fever .Yellow Fever,Malaria ever and a million other deadly diseases carried by mosquiotoes .Incidentally yes I have heard of asthma as I have it and it is seldom a killer in comparison.What is your point?
Please choose the reason of your report below: