Water management is a key component of integrated pest management and mosquito control. Water management works by eliminating, preventing or reducing the amount of standing water available for mosquitoes to utilize as larval habitat.
Whenever possible sites are cleaned by hand. Ditches, stormwater facilities and other drainage structures are cleaned of silt, debris, and vegetation. This allows the water to flow and makes these areas inhospitable for mosquito larvae.
Ditch maintenance, stream cleaning and pond dredging, are common water management practices. All work is done following the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Agency's Freshwater Wetlands and Flood Hazard Act Rules. Maintenance of these systems is essential to preventing larval mosquito habitat.
Fallen trees and other major obstructions are removed from rivers and streams to prevent flooding. While one tree may not seem like a problem, major blockages form quickly in streams leading to flooded properties. By removing these blockages mosquito habitat is reduced and private properties and public roadways are protected.
Stormwater Facilities, (i.e. detention ponds, retention ponds, infiltration basins), are major mosquito breeding areas when not maintained. Maintenance can be as simple as removing blockages from a trash rack and as complex as removing sediment from the low flow channel with equipment. Many stormwater facilities have been neglected for so long that major restoration projects are necessary to get them functioning again.
