The good denizens out on the Main Line are bugged these days.
They’re furiously swatting away an unusually heavy infestation of mosquitoes.
And they’re equally bugged by the state’s attempt to eradicate the problem.
Citing the need to thin the skeeter population, the state announced plans Monday night to do some aerial spraying, a new twist in their war on the critters that are tied to West Nile Virus. For the most part the state Department of Environmental Protection has dispatched teams on the ground to attack the problem.
That didn’t seem to be working. Record numbers of mosquitoes have been detected in the region this summer. So they announced plans to take to the air to attack the problem. Word came Monday night.
The spraying was scheduled for Tuesday night, just about 24 hours later.
Radnor residents were not especially happy, either with the idea of spraying by air, or at what they say was the lack of proper notice they received.
Township officials, besieged by complaints from the public, actually went to court in an attempt to block the aerial plan. They lost, with a Commonwealth Court judge issuing a one-line ruling rejecting their claim late Wednesday afternoon.
The aerial spraying to attack the burgeoning mosquito population detected in the region was expected to go on as planned last night.
Some outdoor activities were canceled, despite state assurances that the spraying posed no danger to residents. It probably didn’t help that the initial advisory urged pregnant women and children to avoid exposure.
It is believed that 52,000 acres in Delaware and Montgomery counties were treated with a fine mist of the chemical resmerthrin.
Let’s hope it KO’d those pesky mosquitoes.
Easing residents concerns about the program, and the way it was implemented, might be a little harder to do.
They’re furiously swatting away an unusually heavy infestation of mosquitoes.
And they’re equally bugged by the state’s attempt to eradicate the problem.
Citing the need to thin the skeeter population, the state announced plans Monday night to do some aerial spraying, a new twist in their war on the critters that are tied to West Nile Virus. For the most part the state Department of Environmental Protection has dispatched teams on the ground to attack the problem.
That didn’t seem to be working. Record numbers of mosquitoes have been detected in the region this summer. So they announced plans to take to the air to attack the problem. Word came Monday night.
The spraying was scheduled for Tuesday night, just about 24 hours later.
Radnor residents were not especially happy, either with the idea of spraying by air, or at what they say was the lack of proper notice they received.
Township officials, besieged by complaints from the public, actually went to court in an attempt to block the aerial plan. They lost, with a Commonwealth Court judge issuing a one-line ruling rejecting their claim late Wednesday afternoon.
The aerial spraying to attack the burgeoning mosquito population detected in the region was expected to go on as planned last night.
Some outdoor activities were canceled, despite state assurances that the spraying posed no danger to residents. It probably didn’t help that the initial advisory urged pregnant women and children to avoid exposure.
It is believed that 52,000 acres in Delaware and Montgomery counties were treated with a fine mist of the chemical resmerthrin.
Let’s hope it KO’d those pesky mosquitoes.
Easing residents concerns about the program, and the way it was implemented, might be a little harder to do.
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