Officials: Fed rules raise West Nile risk

New federal hurdles will hog-tie attempts to inhibit mosquito breeding and heighten people's risk of catching disease, according to the manager charged with fighting Yuba-Sutter's mosquitoes.

The new restrictions, which took effect in November, prevent the Sutter-Yuba Mosquito and Vector Control District from spraying pesticides in waters already polluted with the same kind of pesticide, said Ron McBride, district manager.

Those waterways include Wadsworth Canal south of Sutter and Jack Slough northeast of Marysville, which are the focus of district's control efforts, McBride said. By attacking populations there, the district stops them from spreading to the urban areas of Marysville and Yuba City.

"If we weren't able to spray those areas, you'd have more mosquitoes and more chance for West Nile virus transmission to humans," McBride said.

California saw 155 West Nile cases last year — including one in Yuba County — and nine deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and the California Department of Public Health.

McBride has a lot of tools he can use to fight mosquitos, said Dave Smith, with the regional office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, adding that he feels there's been a lot of misunderstanding about what districts have to do to satisfy the new permit requirements. Smith said agency officials, including himself, worked on the permit to make sure it mirrored regulations districts have followed for years.

"The bottom line is the permit does not limit in a significant way on the mosquito control districts to do their jobs," Smith said.

Not true, said Catherine Smith, executive director of the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California . The new permit creates a new tangle of red tape districts have to deal with, she said, something that will sap them of time and money when they're already coping with year after year of slumping budgets.

That's why McBride banded together with California's other 65 districts to spread the cost of what he said were testing requirements related to the new permit. Together they are paying $400,000, with about $8,500 coming out of McBride's budget, which totals $2.9 million this year.

"This is actually taxpayers dollars," he said.

New state requirements, different from the federal ones, are "overly broad," said George Kostyrko, spokesman for the State Water Resources Control Board, which is why board members are working to roll those back. They're set to do so at their April 3 meeting.

That should give districts enough time to prepare for mosquito season, Kostyrko continued. If not, they can work with the state to pursue emergency options and start spraying.

While the new federal permit has been in place for more than three months, the true test will come in the spring and summer when mosquitoes awake from hibernation looking to breed and for blood, Catherine Smith said.

"It's kind of the ultimate test," she added. "We'll see if the impact is when it's full-blown mosquito season and something like West Nile pops up."

CONTACT reporter Jonathan Edwards at jedwards@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4780. Find him on Facebook at /ADjedwards or on Twitter at @ADjedwards.