Neighbors fear pool will breed mosquitoes and West Nile
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SALEM, Ore. – In a backyard of a home in a Northeast Salem neighborhood there is a pool half-filled with rain water, and neighbors told KATU News they are worried it could be a breeding ground for mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus.
There is heightened concern because Marion County budget cuts last year eliminated the agency that controls mosquitoes and other pests through spraying, and, according to the county's environmental health department, the standing water and plant life in the pool is a perfect environment for mosquitoes to live.
"We're putting out a letter to them to ask them to empty the pool and be done with it," Rick Sherman, with Marion County Environmental Health, said.
But the county can't do much more. Oregon's laws do not include fines or jail time for people who leave standing water on their property. According to the county, it is now up to homeowners to take care of the problem.
“Make sure you don't have any standing water – any kind of stagnant water. Just try to get it to move out of there," Sherman said.
The owner of the pool would not answer questions Thursday about what she's doing to fight the mosquito problem.
There are goldfish in the pool and people in the neighborhood said they hope there are enough fish to keep the mosquito population down and keep Marion County's perfect record of no West Nile cases intact.
The Center for Disease Control says the West Nile virus is spreading farther and faster this year than ever before. More than 1,100 cases have been reported in 47 states and at least 41 people have died.
So far there have been no human cases reported in Oregon and Washington, but Thursday the Klamath County Health Department announced the virus was found in a horse that died in the town of Keno. The virus has also been found in one bird in Oregon as well as mosquitoes in both Oregon and Washington.
This story came to us as a news tip. If you have a story for us email us at newstips@katu.com.
Wow..! That is beyond gross..!  I feel sorry for the goldfish, having to live in that yucky-looking "water"...
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What bothers me more than the appearance (which is bad enough), is thinking that this could be an "attractive nuisance", eg: to neighborhood kids looking for something to get into, or trash, or whatever...  I think I would drain it, then cover it...
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Really sad, because it looks like at one time, this was probably a nice yard with a pretty swimming pool... sign of the times and our failing economy, I guess... people are having a really hard time keeping their heads barely above water...
That backyard looks like the "after" of a before/after shot of a hoarders episode. That pool not only needs to be drained, but filled in as well.
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@AndyP I was thinking it was the "before" photo of one of those house-flipping shows.
Can't believe how trashy some people are! Sheesh, grab a scrubber and a hose to siphon the water out. That is a health hazard!
What about them "Bilko Swales"???
On today's episode of Swamp People...
if there's goldfish in the pond they will take care of most if not all of the mosquitos. Â I've had ponds with goldfish for years and we've never had a mosquito problem with goldfish in the ponds. Â There are also "mosquito dunks" that can be dropped in the water and are harmless to the fish to take care of any doubts.
You have a few options, and, the fun part is, some of them involve a slingshot.
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Garlic in the water will discourage them. For example, at Burning Man the human waste from the portables is turned into fertilizer to grow garlic, which the BLM or somebody uses for pesticide control. Gross, but, mosquitoes are the enemy.
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I'm not saying they should sneak in some diesel or old gasoline, but, I've seen it work. Soap might work. Bleach would.Â
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Otherwise, a natural solution? Frogs!  What they need are some frogs and something to launch them over the fence into the pool. Maybe you could zip-tie pieces garlic to the frogs...
@Dienekes4160 Maybe I could send you some Croqui Frogs from the Big Island. We can spare a few. Do you have an address?
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 @HarryJuku Huh?! We better keep an EYE on this 'un. That ain't right.
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My daughter and I have mosquito bites on us from running around in the yard near Gresham last night. We quit working on the yard a little after dusk, which we call "the mosquito hour."
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There are no fireflies in Oregon. Wish there were... kids love to catch them. Haven't seen any preying mantises in a couple of years but we found an adult male black widow a couple of years ago and I think I found a web in my shed up on a shelf. *shudder* God, I loathe spiders.
This is really gross and unsightly, but I think people are being overly paranoid. West Nile hasn't even been happening on this side of the country.
City of Salem may be able to do more along the lines of enforcing the owners to deal with the problem. I do know that a neighbor of mine got a fine from the city because she was letting her chickens run all over the neighborhood and they were destroying people's flower beds and pooping all over the place. It's possible the City could deal with this as well. I dunno.....I've never had a pool, is there any way you can keep it from collecting rainwater? Maybe leaving a drain permanently open? Looks like these folks may have fallen upon hard times and don't have much money to cope with maintenance issues.
@Disgusted   Sorry, but it doesn't take a lot of money to scrub this pond and siphon the water out. This is pure laziness on the part of what ever colored trash lives there.
Send the occutards/bums over there to take baths.
People can complain about the appearance of the property though and the city's code enforcement folks will start fining them...
Is there a health dept in Salem? What about code enforcement? Does anyone pay attention down there?
A cup of vegetable oil dumped in the pool would keep the misquitos from hatching.
Sheesh. Might as well add some frogs, ducks and a load or two of aquatic plants and finish turning it into a pond!
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Just toss them over the fence. It'd be quicker than the government nonsense, more effective than the spraying, and chances are, the neighbor would never notice!
I suppose a neighbor could sneak over the fence in the middle of the night and dump about 10 gallons of bleach into the pool. That should help to prevent an outbreak of mosquitoes.
Sounds like they are using it for a pond. And its definitely pea soup..  From the looks of it, its hard to imagine anything living in it as ill kept as it is.  And they are omnivorous, so they may nibble on bugs, but they nibble plants, roots and algae as well..Â
Is the nile virus the new H1N1? Fear controls the populace.
Da Nile ain't a POOL!