To the Editor:
Nikki Cheshire’s informative article (“Preventing Zika: Doing Your Part,” Great Falls Connection, July 6-12, 2016) presents the contradictory and costly positions of the Fairfax County Health Department and the Public Works and Environmental Services Department. Residents are told that they should fight the Zika virus by emptying water in bird baths, flower parts, and all the used tires in our yards. At the same time, the County is spending millions to convert our effective storm drainage systems into standing water ponds, swamps and dammed drains. The contradiction is even more preposterous when the environmental health supervisor, Josh Smith claims that mosquitos “do not breed in still water ponds, pooling lakes, stormwater management areas, or drainage ditches” but they do breed in “containers on private property.” As I have noted in a previous letter, the County has replaced the storm drains that have effectively served my neighborhood for 33 years, and they are doing the same in other Great Falls neighborhoods. The project in our neighborhood consists of 2 standing ponds, 3 swamps, and a plugged drain that holds water. It can’t be tipped. The County used “easement rights” to install these mosquito farms on private lawns where children used to play. I suggest that the County request some of the billion dollars the Federal Government will spend to fight Zika, to restore the storm drains and lawns that were effective and scenic.
Gene Phillip
Great Falls