COLUMBIA BASIN — The Department of Ecology issued a letter to people who participated in the comment period concerning the Aquatic Mosquito Control General permit.

The public comment period ended March 17. Ecology is still in the process of reviewing comments on the draft permit.

“More than 200 people took time to attend the public workshop and hearing in Moses Lake,” stated Bill Moore, manager with the Program Development Services Section. “We also received written comments from more than 450 individuals, in addition to the 30 people who testified at the hearing.”

Due to the overwhelming number of people who attended the Moses Lake meeting, two dual meetings were held, one indoors and one outdoors, and an additional meeting was hosted afterward.

“We appreciate your comments and perspectives on the proposed mosquito permit,” he explained. “Because of the substantive information we received, our final permit will be a better one for people and for the environment. It is clear that the final permit will have significant changes from the proposed permit.”

Moore reports hearing some concerns voiced repeatedly, including people requesting the spraying of both vector and nuisance mosquitoes and  that controlling adult mosquitoes is necessary for public health and the economy of small communities and recreation. He advised people were also concerned the equipment used to control adult mosquitoes makes it difficult to spray without spraying water bodies.

“We are committed to crafting a mosquito control permit that effectively controls mosquitoes to protect public health and welfare and at the same time protects water quality,” Moore explained. “We are also committed to developing a permit that will allow mosquito control districts and others to legally spray for adult mosquitoes this season, which means issuing a new mosquito control permit as quickly as possible.”

Ecology will post the public comments on its Web site and continue working with mosquito control districts.

“We plan to issue the final permit in May,” he stated. “The new permit will be effective by the middle of June, in time for the main West Nile season. Per our commitment at the workshop, when we issue the final permit we will schedule several workshops to explain the new permit.”