After seeing the mosquito population rise 8,000% in less than a month, Lowndes County and the City of Valdosta are using every possible resource to polish off the pests.
Due the serious viruses mosquitoes can spread, local governments aren't taking any chances.
"We have crews that put out larvicide on standing water in roadside ditches and we also have crews spraying at night--adulticide," says Robin English, Lowndes County Public Works Director.
Both of these pesticides are necessary to stop the rising numbers.
"The adulticide we spray at night kills the adult mosquitoes. The larvicide that we put in the water kills them before they become adults," explains English.
It's the adult female mosquitoes that do the biting. Anyone with standing water in their yard, which is where mosquitoes breed, is encouraged to pick up free packets of larvicide at either the county or city public works.
John Whitehead, Deputy City Manager of Operations, says, "Each packet will cover about 130 square feet, which is about a 10x13 area of water."
City workers have reached out to all homes with swimming pools.
"We had a list of those homes, and we went door to door to those homes, providing larvicide for those swimming pool areas," says Whitehead.
But it doesn't take much water for mosquitoes to reproduce. Officials say small steps such as constantly changing the water in your bird baths will make a big difference in eliminating the problem.
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