St. Lucie County is about to launch an operation to try and keep breeding mosquitoes in check.
On Wednesday April 6 and again on Monday April 11, if weather permits, the St. Lucie County Mosquito Control and Coastal Management Department will drop granules targeting mosquito larvae into the impoundments on Hutchinson Island.
The department says it will also pump water into impoundment areas along North and South Hutchinson Island.
As the University of Florida extension service explains, keeping a sheet of water across a salt-marsh substrate prevents some mosquitoes from laying eggs on otherwise attractive soils
The county says it pumps more than 65 billion gallons of water annually into the wetlands which reduces up to 90% of the mosquito population in coastal wetlands without the need to use chemicals.