Pond ‘not a problem’

The Chico City Council heard welcome news Tuesday night (May 15), when Jim Camy of the Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control District gave a favorable report of prevention efforts at the Fair Street Detention Pond.

“The pond out there is not a problem at this time,” Camy said, praising city staff for maintaining recommended vegetation levels so the “mosquito fish” can do their job—reducing the number of potential West Nile virus carriers in a neighborhood where two people died from the disease last year.

“There are problems in Chico,” Camy continued, but the most troublesome sources are pools of standing water in back yards.

The condition of the Fair Street pond got raised at the previous meeting by Councilman Larry Wahl, who expressed skepticism at Camy’s assessment that no mosquitos are breeding there. “I think the neighbors would disagree with you,” Wahl said, though none did so during the meeting’s public comment period.

The city is proceeding with a long-term solution to standing water in the pond by constructing a bypass pipe for Comanche Creek run-off.