Using Rain Gardens to Control Mosquito Breeding  in Areas Endemic to Malaria

Matthew R. Colip, AmeriCorp – VISTA, U.S. EPA – Region III

Sub-tropical regions of the Earth suffer from annual “rainy seasons” and poor stormwater management techniques that often result in the saturation of the vadose zone, the area between the ground surface and the zone of saturation. This ground saturation in poorly drained locales can result in the formation of puddles that could provide ideal conditions for proliferating mosquito breeding.

This presentation explains the function and purpose of rain gardens and their potential to address this problem. Additionally, it hypothesizes that, if approached empirically through site terrain mapping of rural areas where mosquitoes are known to breed, rain gardens could be strategically placed to reduce the possibility of puddling due to excessive rain and/or ground water saturation. This surface water elimination and control practice could significantly reduce the chances of land-based mosquito breeding grounds developing and thus control mosquito reproduction. Such control over mosquito breeding in rural areas would directly impact the proliferation rate of malaria in endemic areas.

In summary, this presentation proposes a new use for the well known and accepted environmental practice of building rain gardens. This use is to reduce or eliminate the adverse health impacts of malarial disease in specific endemic areas that are geographically and topographically appropriate for rain garden implementation, stressing the continued importance of a multidisciplinary approach to malaria control.