A Team: Who do I gotta bug about mosquito control?

The Q: Reader Joan A. asked us what Anderson County is doing about mosquito control and how do people get large tracts of land sprayed if the county doesn't spray.

The A: Anderson County doesn't have a robust program of spraying throughout the county or spraying at resident's request. So unless you live in one small area of the county, amateur prevention efforts or hiring a private company is the best bet.

What the county has done this year is to focus on spraying a roughly one-mile radius from where a bird was confirmed to have died of West Nile Virus this year near Broadway Lake.

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The county has done two rounds of spraying there.

It's the only bird to have been found with the virus and the virus has not been found in people near here this year, said Lt. David Baker, the head of the county's Emergency Management division.

A few homes just outside of the radius have requested additional mosquito control and have gotten it, he said.

He said the mosquito budget isn't enough to spray the entire county, it costs several thousands of dollars to contract a company for the one-mile spray in part because the county doesn't have its own large-scale spraying equipment.

The new sprays are also safer for people and pets, but cost more than the old kind, Baker said. The county has 757 square miles, so spraying the entire county once could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or even more than a million dollars.

Outside of that small chunk of the county, which is where the biggest threat is expected because of the bird, residents can contact the county and ask for mosquito control, Baker said.

But officials aren't usually able to do too much more than homeowners can do themselves so Baker recommends everyone take a quick lap around their property, looking for places with stagnant water.

Empty flower pots or unused dog dishes, gutters, abandoned pools, tires, low-lying areas and basically anywhere that water-loving mosquitoes will thrive.

Tip everything over and clean out gutters. If it can't be tipped or drained, go to a hardware store and buy mosquito briquettes that can be dropped in, they cost about $1 each and you may have to buy a package with a half dozen or more.

Mosquitoes have been a big problem this year, they need water to hatch and this August has so far been more than twice as wet as average. The year has had 10 inches of precipitation above the normal 30 inches so far.

Mosquito season has been strange this year, said Gregg Hunt, director of Beaufort County's mosquito control program and a 40-year veteran of mosquito wars.

Mosquitoes typically show up in the state around April, give or take a week or two, but didn't really show up until June this year, he said.

He said the mosquito season normally ends in November but with the late start, there's a chance the season could stretch out depending on the weather.

Independent Mail reporters Mike Ellis and Abe Hardesty make up the A Team.

The A Team is here to answer your questions, submit your questions to ateam@independentmail.com or at 1000 Williamston Road, Anderson, SC 29621.