City of Winnipeg looks for S.W.A.T. agents to fight mosquitoes

The City of Winnipeg is looking for residents to become S.W.A.T. agents, but the only mission is fighting mosquitoes.

The Insect Control Branch has put a new twist on the battle against the bug by starting the Standing Water Action Team or S.W.A.T.

"Standing water is the ideal environment for the development of Winnipeg's mosquito larvae and a single birdbath filled with standing water can generate as many as 1,000 adult nuisance mosquitoes," Ken Nawolsky, superintendent of insect control, said in a release.

"Fifty per cent of Winnipeg's mosquito population comes from standing water on private property, so everyone needs to do their part."

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"As an agent of S.W.A.T., your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to fight mosquitoes before they hatch," Nawolsky said. Residents can do that by gettingrid of standing water on their property. The city is asking people to drain, dump, or cover water-filled containers like buckets, rain barrels, or even birdbaths.

The city has been asking residents for years to eliminate standing water in order to reduce mosquitebreeding sites. Thelarviciding program began this year in April and according to the city's Insect Control websitetrap counts arecurrently low.