More and more pest management professionals are adding mosquito treatments as one of their many service options. As we become more proficient at treating target areas and locating the obvious conducive conditions around the home, we can often overlook one not so obvious source of mosquito breeding: the catch basin. Catch basins are cisterns located at the point where a street gutter discharges into a sewer and are designed to catch and retain matter that would not pass readily through the sewer. They can also hold water in which some mosquitoes such as Culex will deposit their eggs. The eggs will hatch in approximately 12-24 hours and in about a week (varies based on species and environmental factors) they will become biting adults. The emerging mosquitoes will then search for a blood meal which could very well be your paying customer.
Given the fact that most catch basins are city-owned property, this is one conducive condition the PMP will not be able to legally treat. At a minimum, the PMP should communicate this potential breeding site to the customer and let them know that emerging mosquitoes could be a problem. Inform the customer that they can contact their local mosquito control district (if they have one) and inquire about past or future catch basin mosquito treatments. Communicating this to the customer could help manage expectations and prevent customer dissatisfaction with the service.
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