The Northeast Massachusetts Mosquito Control and Wetlands
Management District (NEMMC) has thirty-two subscribing municipalities,
including Ipswich. Their mosquito
control and surveillance program runs from the middle of the spring until the
beginning of the fall, the time of the year most people are engaged in
extensive outdoor activities.
NEMMC creates a Vector Management Plan (VMP) for the
Mosquito Control District and a Best Management
Practice Plan (BMP) for each of the municipalities within its District annually. District control efforts focus primarily on
adult mosquito surveillance, virus testing and preemptive virus intervention
strategies.
The Best Management Practice Plan for Ipswich is reviewed
and approved by the Board of Health annually.
This year the 2018 Best Management Practice Plan will be reviewed at the
February 12, 2018 Board of Health meeting.
The meeting will be held in Room C of Town Hall, 25 Green Street at
5:30pm. All are welcome to attend.
Every year the control measures
in Ipswich’s BMP include ground
and aerial salt marsh larviciding, catch basin treatment, inspections and adulticiding. The 2018 draft BMP for
Ipswich can be viewed at www.ipswichma.gov/publichealth
under the resources tab or in the Public Health Office.
Larviciding: Targeted preemptive control
measures are the most cost effective, efficient, and environmentally friendly
way to reduce mosquito populations. Larviciding is the application of an
insecticide into shallow water to control mosquitoes in their aquatic stages
and prevent emergence as adult mosquitoes.
Catch Basin Treatments: An insecticide
is applied to a catch basin, storm water structure, etc. to control mosquitoes
in there aquatic stages and prevent emergences as adult mosquitoes.
Inspections:
Inspections are done upon request. A resident can contact the Public Health
Office and provide information regarding their particular area of
concern. NEMMC does a site visit to determine if there are natural or
artificial mosquito breeding areas that can be treated.
Adulticiding: Science
based selective adulticiding for virus intervention will be provided with
recommendations from Northeast MA Mosquito Control of specific areas to be
targeted with approval of the Board of Health, as circumstances warrant and
conditions allow. Applications to schools must be in compliance with MGL ch85.
Notifications regarding adulticiding will be disseminated
via the town website, the Ipswich Chronicle, The Salem News and the town’s
notification system.
If you are not already signed up to receive notifications,
you can sign up by going to the town’s website www.ipswichma.gov and clicking on the Notify
Me link on the home page.
If
you have any questions, contact Colleen E. Fermon, Director of Public Health,
at 978-356-6606 or by email at colleenf@ipswich-ma.gov