BALLINGER - The City of Ballinger has purchased a PHesco International London Fogger to combat the growing mosquito problem in the city. Assistant City Manager John Pierik welcomed the rains but now it's time to deal with the aftermath, "When it was raining, the mosquito larvae were washed away. Now, with no runoff, the larvae are hatching."

Peirik pointed out that the fogger isn't the kind that haunts the dreams of the 60s, 70s and 80s, when the truck drove the streets fogging everyone, every animal and everything else, "We paid to have a GPS installed on the fogger. If the speed drops below 4 mph the fogger will shut down. The target speed is 4-23 mph. The machine automatically adjusts for the speed. It uses an aerosol nozzle, not a mist."

The chemicals that will be used are AQUABAC and KONTROL 30-30. According to the Masterline information, the KONTROL 30-30 is designed to kill mosquitoes, flies and gnats. Pierik provided the Material Safety Data Sheets on the chemicals to the newspaper, "The active ingredient is designed with the chemical encased by a plant-based mineral oil. Ideally, we'll get an 80% efficacy (kill) rate. There is also a prescribed dosage rate."

According to Pierik, the controlled dosage is set by PHesco, "Every employee signs an agreement that they will not alter the dosage concentration." Pierik said that the dosage is at 4%, "It's less than 10% of what the toxic level would be for a cat." Pierik reiterated that the chemical is not known to kill cats and dogs.

Pierik said that the plan is to spray between 10 p.m. and 3:30 a.m., "Ideally we'll spray after the atmospheric shift every day."

When fully loaded, the fogger can run 60-70 miles of road. Pierik said that the city plans to run 15-20 miles of road when spraying. That would allow the city to knock out 3 applications with one full load.

Pierik is asking for people who have high concentrations of mosquitoes to notify the city so that they can spray the area, "We don't want to under-treat or over-treat areas." The caveat is that the city won't spray on private property, "We can't provide treatment on private property since that would compete with private enterprise."

The MSDS information can be found on the Runnels County Register's Facebook page and at www.RunnelsCountyRegister.Com