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South Dakota uses spraying drone to kill mosquitoes

Drones armed with mozzie-killing chemicals in wetlands battle with insects - ABC News

"US News" reported on August 9, on August 8, given that hidden puddles are the main place for mosquitoes to breed, the focus of mosquito control work in Aberdeen recently will focus on finding hidden puddles from the air. The city of Aberdeen purchased a spraying drone this summer with a grant from the South Dakota Department of Health's Health Assurance Fund, National Parks Superintendent Mark Hoeven said.


Drones have more agility than environmental workers to spot those hidden mosquito breeding grounds. The city previously hired a pilot to fly over Brown County each year to find these areas of standing water. Hoven said. Not only can drones fly lower, they can fly more frequently. Once stagnant water is found, staff will test the water to see if there are mosquito larvae in the water, and if so, they will treat the stagnant water.

Hoeven said the deeper idea of our drones is to identify more stagnant water areas around Aberdeen, which could further reduce mosquito populations around town. We felt strongly that drones would be a great tool! Hoeven said the drone purchased by the city of Aberdeen was the same model used by Brown Township Emergency Management. It can stay in the air for 15 to 20 minutes and can alert the user when power is low.

The drone also has an automatic take-off and landing function, and is also equipped with an automatic return-to-home function, which can automatically fly back to the user. While drones can fly out of sight when necessary, city employees generally don't, Hoeven said. "The drone will not leave our line of sight, it will work within our line of sight!" Future regulations The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is continuing to draft regulations on drones to regulate the use of unmanned aerial systems.

Hoeven said that the current use of drones in cities is compliant with the municipality's recreational permit, which means the city needs to have a licensed drone operator, which would be an additional expense, he said. Hopefully eventually the FAA will treat city use of drones as a commercial use.

While the use of drones is subject to regulation by the Federal Aviation Administration, Hoeven said there are a number of companies working on new ways to use drones. One of those companies is working on drones that can land on water, making it easier to detect the presence of mosquitoes and larvae, he said, and another is working on using drones for chemical treatments.

H620L Hybrid spraying drone for kill mosquitoes