Rainy conditions are creating some challenges for city crews who are trying to maintain Steinbach’s numerous greenspaces.
Parks and Recreation Department Manager Russ Dyck says the weather is impacting their work.
“Oh yeah, definitely. In terms of mowing and trimming and so forth, it is hard to keep up with the growth and then often it's too wet to be able to mow properly,” says Dyck. “There's certain areas that maybe are more susceptible to being saturated, or temporary standing water, for the mowers to get through. It has been a challenge trying to keep up with all the growth.”
While the water is preventing some of the maintenance work in our parks, Dyck notes the rain has been helpful in making sure the plants don’t dry out.
“Our irrigation systems haven't really been running at all yet,” he reports. “I know at home I haven't even turned mine on. Nothing irritates better than rain, we know that, but we could use a little less of it now.”
Considering the amount of temporary standing water during the past few months along with the warm weather, Dyck says he would expect there to be a much bigger mosquito population in Steinbach.
He reports that trap counts are still quite low. All the same, Dyck notes that some areas do have more mosquitoes than others. A lot of that depends on wind conditions and the amount of standing water in sheltered areas, he explains.
While Steinbach might entertain the idea of fogging if trap counts would be much higher than they are these days, Dyck says for now, it is up to each person to protect themselves from mosquitoes.