Portage la Prairie's already starting to combat mosquitoes. Parks Manager Dave Green says they've started their larviciding work, which sees a biological agent put into the city's standing water, in an effort to reduce the number of mosquitoes reaching the adult stage. Each year, the city focuses predominantly on their efforts to prevent mosquito populations from becoming a nuisance, and Green explains larviciding is the best way to go about that work.

"By larviciding you can get better control of a small area before they hatch. It's more cost-effective, and it's safer for everybody because you're not spraying chemicals around town, it's isolated to the spots with standing water."

While the testing of standing water, and application of BTI larvicide is already underway, Green says they're not expecting a major mosquito problem this year, citing the relatively dry conditions.

"At the present time it looks favourable, but just like every other year it can change very quickly when the weather changes. At this point right now, all indications are that at least in the spring we shouldn't see any problems."

He adds residents can also play a role in keeping mosquito populations low, by dumping out old tires, containers, or bird baths at least once a week to stop those mosquitoes from hatching.