Residents in an area of Kanata Lakes in west Ottawa are tired of giving blood.
They don’t mean donating to Canadian Blood Services. They mean giving it drop by miserable drop to the swarms of mosquitoes infesting their neighbourhood.
The problem has gotten so bad that some residents in an area around Kizell Pond have started a petition demanding the City do something to get the mosquitoes under control.
“It’s a horrible experience,” says Sam Badaan, whose property backs on to the wetlands. “I can enjoy my patio maybe 2 percent of the time so far without getting bit.”
The mosquitoes are out all day, but are especially bad in the cooler morning and evening hours. “You can’t jog in the morning,” says Jeff Seeton. “You can’t go out in the evening. It’s quite bad.”
Ottawa City Councillor Marianne Wilkinson says she sympathizes, but maintains it is up to the residents to deal with mosquitoes. She’s encouraging the residents of Kanata Lakes to adopt natural remedies like building bird houses and installing bat boxes. She says the City only intervenes when there is a threat of West Nile Virus. “There are many areas of Ottawa that have a lot of mosquitoes,” she says. “This is not the only area.”
Wilkinson also says the City is looking into the possibility of having a Quebec company apply a mosquito larvicide to standing water in the area. But the City wouldn’t pay for it. Residents would have to bear the cost themselves.
It would also likely take a year or more to obtain the necessary permits. The Kizell pond area is designated a provincially significant wetland.
