Inland home foreclosures are rising, and with them the number of abandoned pools, providing an ideal habitat for the insects

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

Hidden behind a vacant two-story home at the end of a cul-de-sac sits what might be a greater concern for a quiet Murrieta neighborhood than the dying lawn out front and the broken car parts and spilled motor oil littering the driveway.

The home's backyard pool and spa are as green as grass, filled with algae and teeming with mosquito larvae and pupae that if left untreated could soon begin nipping at neighbors who venture outside to enjoy a summer evening.

"Those will be adult mosquitoes by the end of the day. These people would be eaten alive tonight," Karen Fletcher, a mosquito-control technician with the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health, said on a trip to the vacant home one recent morning.

"This is a huge breeding area, or was until we treated it."

For Fletcher and other vector-control officials across the Inland region, it's like a rite of passage each summer: the battle to keep the mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus at bay. And this summer is especially worrisome. With home foreclosures on the rise, the odds of finding a vacant home with a pool breeding mosquitoes are increasing, Fletcher said.

Riverside County ranks fourth in the state in home foreclosures this year, and Murrieta has one of the highest rates in the county. Fletcher in past years might have monitored the pools on about 10 foreclosed homes each summer. Now, she estimates the number tops 60, including the one treated recently in Murrieta.
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Riverside County recorded 4,550 foreclosures in May; San Bernardino County had 3,633

"They are very easy to be seen," Fletcher said. "I look for houses with brown grass."

Perfect Conditions

Mosquitoes need standing water and warm weather to breed. A record-dry winter means fewer natural water sources, leaving green pools as a main problem.

So throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties, vector-control officials are busy driving through neighborhoods, using ladders to peer over retaining walls, hopping fences and taking to the skies in helicopters in search of abandoned and neglected swimming pools.

It's unclear how many green pools are located at foreclosed homes. Riverside County's database, for instance, does not separately list whether a green pool is located at a home in foreclosure.

San Bernardino County officials have not yet seen a spike in the number of green pools from home foreclosures but have discussed the possibility. They'll take to the air this month to survey for green pools in Colton, Fontana and Upland, said Joan Mulcare, a program manager with the county Department of Public Health. She oversees the county's mosquito control.

The county has about 230 green pools to keep watch on, with the number increasing, particularly in Upland and San Bernardino, she said.

"It would be another month or so before we see any uptick," she said of green pools at foreclosed homes. "We have discussed this ourselves, so we know that it may be coming."

Brian Reisinger, a community-outreach coordinator with the West Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, which serves western San Bernardino County, said the agency has spotted green pools at homes in foreclosure. But he said most in that part of the county still are from residents who simply neglect to maintain a pool.

"All green pools, including those stemming from abandoned and foreclosed homes, pose a very real risk to communities," Reisinger said in an e-mail. "Thousands of mosquitoes can emerge weekly from one neglected pool."

Snowbird Effect

Green pools result from several reasons, environmental health officials said.

The home could be vacant or in foreclosure. A homeowner may not be able to afford a pool's upkeep. The electricity could go out while a person is out of town. Or, as is often the case in the Coachella Valley, a person could leave his winter home, and pool maintenance might lag. A maintained pool with moving water will not breed mosquitoes.

"This is a seasonal market. Some may leave and not follow up with their pool man," said Robert Mann, a spokesman for the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. "If the owner is not present, they don't see the pool on a daily basis."

While this year's aerial survey is not yet complete, the Coachella district checked seven cities last year. Of 300 pools checked, half were green, Mann said.

The West Valley Vector Control district, for instance, already has identified more than 300 green pools in just two cities, Reisinger said.

Without a helicopter to aid them, Fletcher and her colleague Kelly Kersten with the Riverside County Environmental Health Department rely on tips from residents and a lot of legwork to track down green pools.

In another Murrieta neighborhood, Fletcher was on her way to check on a pool and spotted some brown grass. Sure enough, the home was in foreclosure and had a pool breeding mosquitoes, she said.

"This one I just happened to find," Fletcher said.

Or as Kersten joked as they entered the backyard to treat it again: "There was a disturbance in the Force and she found a pool."

Offenders on Notice

Vector Control officials have the right under state law to go on anyone's property to check for breeding mosquitoes.

If officials find a green pool, they issue a citation to the property owner. For example, property owners in Murrieta have a week to clean their pool after receiving a citation. If the home is in foreclosure, the district will try to track down the mortgage company or bank. They also treat the pool, and depending on differing laws, will drain it.

Mann said the Coachella district, which now serves all nine desert cities, uses property records to track down owners and sends each a letter asking for cooperation. The district will then either treat the pool or drain it.

Riverside County Vector Control, which serves most of the county's unincorporated areas plus cities such as Murrieta, Temecula, Menifee and Hemet, cannot legally drain someone's pool, Fletcher said.

San Bernardino County officials knock on a lot of doors, Mulcare said.

"We usually get fairly quick reaction from people," she said. "We get over 95 percent compliance that way."

Clearing the Problem

Once a green pool is spotted, the work begins. Regular treatment and checks are needed. And the work usually doesn't end until someone puts the pool back into working condition or gets rid of the water.

A female mosquito can lay thousands of eggs, which then move into several larval and pupal stages before becoming an adult mosquito.

The process can take as little as five days and take place just about anywhere water is stagnant -- pools, flower pots, old tires and more.

"It is amazing how many different things can hold water," Kersten said. "Just a little bit of water can bring out the mosquitoes."

Fletcher and Kersten use what is called a Golden Bear oil to treat the green pools. The oil covers the pool surface and, in a way, suffocates the mosquito larvae, Fletcher said.

The two also use what is called a growth inhibitor. While it doesn't kill mosquitoes, it keeps them from maturing.

Kersten tossed a half dozen of the golf-ball sized blocks into the pool at the Murrieta home -- and a bank shot into the raised spa.

This will go on all summer long. Kersten said he'll have to treat some locations every two weeks.

Even then, only the lower winter temperatures will give Vector Control officials a break.

"Mosquitoes can survive anything (down) to freezing," Fletcher said.

"It just makes you mad."

Reach Duane W. Gang at 909-806-3062

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