From using a handheld vacuum to keeping a bowl of lemongrass by their bed, Richard Johnson and his wife will try anything to help them with an ongoing mosquito problem plaguing an El Segundo neighborhood.
“Look how tiny they are there,” Johnson said, as he showed us his portable bug zapper. “They’re just really tiny.”
He’s referring to Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which have made their presence felt in Southern California over the last decade or so.
Unlike the traditional and more noticeable Culex mosquitoes, which appear outdoors at dusk and dawn during the warmer months, these smaller “ankle biter” mosquitoes are known to wreak havoc on people during any time of the day, outdoors and indoors.
For the last two months, they’ve made living in El Segundo unbearable for many.
“It’s horrible. We’re living no sleep. The kids are miserable,” said Samantha Hedding, who lives across the street from the Johnsons. “They’re going late to school because they’re up all night dealing with mosquitoes.”
The issue has been happening since November with very little relief.
Residents in the neighborhood most affected believe the problem is coming from a strip of land owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
The easement separates homes in El Segundo from LADWP’s Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant.
“Most, if not all, of the affected neighborhoods directly butt up to the City of LA properties,” said Chris Pimentel, Mayor of El Segundo.
NBC Los Angeles reached out to LADWP for a response.
However, Pimentel said his city has been coordinating with the City of Los Angeles and the LA County West Vector Control District to try and identify the problem spots.
“The tricky part is it’s not ours, right? So you’re coordinating with someone because it’s not our land,” he explained. “And obviously a something like big, like a municipal water treatment plant that treats 230 million gallons of water a day, that’s a sensitive site. And the chemistries that go in, you have to make sure it doesn’t affect the chemistries they use for the treatment.”
Pimentel, who also lives in the neighborhood, said they have been able to identify some problem areas, but they believe there are more.
He added he understands his constituents’ frustration.
“If there is a silver lining, you know, vector control, who’s been testing since December,” Pimentel said. “We don’t have any issues with any outbreak pieces. No West Nile in them. It’s like it’s cold comfort when you’re living with the welts.”
Neighbors acknowledged the problem has gotten a little better.
“It has lightened, but it’s very awkward,” Hedding said. “One night will be light. And when we’re thinking, ‘Oh great, we got relief.’ And then the next night, right back to square zero.”
Meanwhile, Johnson said he recently had his doors and windows reinforced ,and he’s not sure how they’re getting into his home.
“I don’t know how it’s going to end until somebody takes care of it,” he said.