Winnipeg running out of insecticide used for mosquitoes

The City of Winnipeg is running low on an important tool used to battle mosquitoes.

It’s called DeltaGard and it’s an insecticide that is used to fog for adult mosquitoes. The problem is it’s no longer being made and Winnipeg only has enough to fog four more times.

Now, the public service has been told to look for alternatives.

“I believe that we do need some sort of product that’s going to reassure Winnipeggers that when the mosquitoes get bad, if we have a wet season, then we’re going to still take care of it,” said Coun. Evan Duncan in an interview on Wednesday.

The good news is that fogging isn’t the city’s only defence against mosquitoes, as larviciding is its main control method.

“It’s important that Winnipeggers know 90 per cent of the work being down out there for mosquito control is larviciding,” Duncan said.

“However, when we do get up to a point where the threshold of the mosquito traps reaches that 25 mosquito threshold that then the adult nuisance mosquito control – fogging – takes place in the city of Winnipeg,” Duncan said.

- With files from CTV’s Jeff Keele.