There’s a real buzz around the City of Bayswater’s mosquito control program — so much so that it is offering it as a commercial service to other Perth councils.
The new service is expected to generate revenue for the city and help control mosquito breeding outside of its boundaries.
For the past 18 months the city has used drone technology in high breeding sites in the Berringa and Baigup wetlands and has a designated mosquito control unit that is regularly approached for advice and assistance.
Other treatments have included hand-held granule spreaders, backpack blowers and a six-wheel drive amphibious all-terrain vehicle.
Drones are used to map areas and then deliver mosquito larvicide.
The innovative approach was praised at the Environmental Health Australia conference in April 2023.
The council agreed unanimously at its October 31 meeting to make its service available to other councils.
The city intends to start with only a few customers initially and expand if successful.
It will charge $82.50 an hour for labour and $412.50 an hour for equipment, with an expected profit this financial year of $50,000.
Profits from the service will go towards buying new drone equipment.
Deputy mayor Elli Petersen-Pik said at the meeting it was a significant step forward in dealing with the mosquito problem.
“We are going to deal with this by literally helping other local governments who probably have not done what they should have done in managing this issue,” he said.
“Maybe they did not have the capacity or the capabilities but it is in our interest to do this.”
A council report said a big portion of the mosquito activity in the city was found to be caused by salt marsh mosquitoes, which breed in wetland areas along the Swan River.
“At the moment we see an increase of mosquitoes due to the winds that are carrying the mosquitoes from other local governments,” community services director Bianca Sandri said.
“This will help mitigate that whilst obviously providing us a commercial return as well, which will therefore improve our position around mosquito control.
“We have received interest from multiple councils, some that do not abut our council as well.
“Mosquitoes are seasonal so we could potentially go to other local governments where mosquitoes are in season there but not so much in season with us.”
The city already works with the towns of Bassendean and Victoria Park and City of Belmont to monitor and combat mosquito-borne diseases in the eastern portion of the Swan River.
Peak mosquito season in the area is December to April.