Vector Control Field Supervisor Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District, California, United States
Abstract: Catch basins, by their very design, collect standing water and quickly become mosquito breeding sites, making them a critical focus for vector control. In Sacramento and Yolo counties, these structures are dense throughout residential, commercial, and recreational areas, requiring a program that is both mobile and highly efficient. The Catch Basin Program at the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District (District) developed over time through constant field adaptation - refining transportation, tools, and data methods to meet scale and speed demands.
To navigate neighborhoods and high-density commercial zones, the program now uses right hand drive Jeep Wranglers equipped with secure pesticide storage and modified bicycle racks for rapid access. Field technicians apply larvicides and collect water samples from more than 300,000 basins each year, which pushed the District to design new equipment and data workflows. These include a custom mobile application for real-time tracking, a low-profile dipper for sampling through partially sealed grates, and 3D-printed cages that suspend larvicide tablets and briquets in the water column to prevent them from being buried by debris or flushed out.
This presentation will cover the development and field integration of these tools and methods, and how they shaped a modern catch basin control program capable of operating at regional scale.
