Mosquito playground ‘is under our window’

While households are being warned to mop up the slightest puddles to prevent insect breeding grounds, public reservoirs are a veritable mosquito-fest. Following an article on the surge of bites all over the island, readers pointed out that open reservoirs could often be seen “swarming with mosquitoes”. “Health authorities are telling us to drain away even water from buckets in the yard, and yet down the road we have this enormous, stagnant pool of water,” said Carmen Galea, 63, from Santa Venera. The Msida reservoir in Valley Road, which is only a few minutes away from Ms Galea’s house, is almost full to the brim of rain water but it is visibly stagnant, full of green moss and insects buzzing around. “Our feet are polka-dotted with mosquito bites,” said Ms Galea, referring to herself and two of her children. “My husband and my eldest son are lucky, they never seem to get bitten.” The problem started last year. “Before it was just normal mosquitoes, now we are being left with these huge red itchy blotches,” she said. The area surrounding the reservoir in the limits of Pembroke is littered with rubbish and The Times spotted a dead pigeon. The reservoir is only a few steps away from...