Fighting mosquitoes through landscaping

Now Foods is in a large warehouse in Sparks. The parking lot is like any other in the neighborhood, but on second glance you'll notice a low spot going through the center of the lot.

This landscaping is not necessarily brand new, but it helps keep the river clean and mosquitoes at bay.

“Landscaping features to help treat water before the water is released back into the storm drain system, which ultimately gets to the Truckee River,” says Matt Rasmussen with Tectonics Design Group:

Engineers and architectural landscapers often include what's called Low Impact Development when designing business complexes.

In the blueprints for this building, you can see the low impact landscape is in the front and sides of the building. The low spots serve two purposes when analyzing the structure: its height and how much land it will use; engineers determine what run-off will look like.

That runoff will surely have chemicals like motor oil and even brake fluid in it from the parked cars. This low spot contains about four feet of dirt to filter that water before drains take it to the river.

But the design also prevents water from pooling so mosquitoes don't develop.

“This development here prevents that standing water by infiltration by, you know, not having engineering controls such as catch basins, pipes and that kind of thing where water just sits in,” says Ryan Sims with Odyssey Engineering.

And there are new and improved catch basins as well. One storm drain contains a mechanism that prevents mosquitoes from making their way into runoff, and laying eggs.

In new neighborhoods you might notice a change in landscaping. In Sparks there's plenty of xeriscaping and lawn. But notice how little lawn, and how far this landscaping is from the street.

This design is to prevent runoff from making its way to storm drains where mosquito larvae are found. So while you think the fight against mosquitoes only takes place in the air, there are ground efforts too that are less dramatic, but effective in their own way.