Highlights From 2^nd Quarter WGNA Presentations 4/26/13 K.Agee

Our 2^nd quarter WGNA meeting (7 p.m. 4/26/13 at the Christian Church, Lawler @ Jupiter) featured two presentations from City officials. The first presenters (Jeff Crocker and Mandy Pippin) covered mosquito control & the West Nile Virus, and the second (Bonny Patrick) talked about our water supply system, and how to conserve water. Both were informative and very well received. Following are some highlights:

Mosquito & West Nile Virus Control

Jeff & Mandy brought with them a typical “CDC Gravity Trap”, like the ones they have placed around town (often at city-owned places like Fire Depts., but also on private property when invited based on complaints, etc). These traps lure in mosquitoes with water that has been specially formulated to attract egg-laying female mosquitoes. Samples are gathered by the Garland team and sent off to a lab in Austin (and sometimes to a new lab in Dallas) to be tested for West Nile Virus, St Louis encephalitis, and a few other diseases.

Jeff explained how female mosquitoes transmit the West Nile Virus to humans as they move between birds, mammals, and humans collecting blood. The female mosquitoes need this blood to grow the eggs that they’ll eventually lay to produce more mosquitoes. They like to lay their eggs in stagnant water, and It only takes about 10 days for the next generation to hatch and fly off. Therefore we need to watch out for situations where standing water – even small amounts – can let them hatch new generations of mosquitoes.

As a result of these facts, we need to make sure that bird-baths get changed out every few days, and that no other pools of water are allowed to sit long enough to let mosquitoes hatch. Since about 20% of us get flu-like symptoms from this, and about 1 out of 150 people suffer far worse consequences, we need to take this threat seriously. As you know, we got hit pretty hard in 2012, so we need to be alert again this year. If you see pools of standing water that you think will be there long enough for mosquitoes to hatch, please call the City of Garland’s Health Dept at 972-205-3460.

Water System & It’s Conservation

Bonny had a lot of ground to cover, and started off by describing how Garland is part of a larger organization (co-operative) of cities, called the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD). This is a rather amazing system of lakes, treatment centers, pumps, and pipes that has been running since 1951. Their goal is to provide our cities with a continuous source of high-quality water that is fit for drinking, and almost any other use. Very little of our water comes from the aquifers – most of it comes from lakes since our region is blessed with a high yearly rate of rainfall.

In the past few years though, our region’s rainfall has been below average, and as Bonny pointed out, it would take 15-18” of rain in the next three months to get us back up to normal. Aside from this challenge, we haven’t been able to draw additional water from Lake Texoma thanks to their issues with the invasive species of Zebra Mussels. I didn’t catch all the details, but between some exemptions to the “Lacy Act” and long-term planning from the NTMWD, we should have a new (safe) pipeline coming online later this year that will be able to safely pump water from Lake Texoma into Lake Lavon while filtering out the Zebra Mussels.

Bonny talked about some of the bills (and discussions) going on in the Texas Legislature regarding water use: The main problems facing the State are the faster-than-normal growth of the population in north Texas, and the need for us city-dwellers to think a little harder about how we use our water. She also mentioned a side-discussion about the amount of fluoride that the District injects into our water supply, which hasn’t been seriously discussed in many years.

The words “Water-Wise” and “Smartscape” came up a lot. Water-Wise is a term of efficiency for various household appliances that use water. We are encouraged to look for appliances with that label, and there’s even talk in Austin about giving us some tax-breaks when we buy items that have that certification. Smartscape is at term for native plants, drought-resistant plants that are suitable for our area, and other techniques that don’t need much additional watering.

Folks who regularly attend our quarterly WGNA meetings (held on the 4^th Thursday of January, April, July, and October) know that sometimes we get free stuff, and this time we were really fortunate. We all got canvas bags that a contained a shower head, garden faucet head, a leak-detection kit, toothbrush kit, rain gauge, a mosquito dunk, a mosquito towel, and a few more items.