elgordoboy
Beach Fanatic
what’s a mosquito ditch?
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Wanted Looking for Owner Financed lot in Santa Rosa Beach
- Thread starter Shelsez
- Start date
what’s a mosquito ditch?
Matt J
SWGB
Are you being serious?
elgordoboy
Beach Fanatic
Inasmuch as I can google the term or ask what it means here locally, yes I am! I know what a culvert is and it sounds like that but only because of the word “ditch”. Sometimes the obvious escapes me maybe. And I am not native to here. Earth I mean
elgordoboy
Beach Fanatic
Just googled and got an answer after a few non answers.
Decades ago wetlands in SoWal were drained (destroyed) in order to create a method to more efficiently and quickly pollute the Bay while building more roads and lots that could flood only when it rains.
The cover story is that there were too many mosquitoes and in order to make the area between the beach and the Bay livable was to dig a series of connecting ditches draining in to the Bay. Then all the mosquitoes would live and breed dutifully only in the ditches.Then you can easily dump poison in to the ditches, which of course drain the poison and other runoff pollution directly in to the Bay.
The cover story is that there were too many mosquitoes and in order to make the area between the beach and the Bay livable was to dig a series of connecting ditches draining in to the Bay. Then all the mosquitoes would live and breed dutifully only in the ditches.Then you can easily dump poison in to the ditches, which of course drain the poison and other runoff pollution directly in to the Bay.
Taco-Zero
Beach Lover
Thank you for your knowledge of our town. I know family members from the original settlers of Destin and the SRB and they’ve told me stories of how polluted the harbor is as well... unbelievable
Matt J
SWGB
Equating mosquito ditches to drainage ditches is wrong. Many don't even run to the bay. Yes, the idea behind them is to drain and concentrate water to one point to prevent mosquito populations from exploding. They were never intended to be used as drainage ditches and many developments, improperly, utilized them over the years. SWMCD, South Walton Mosquito Control District, was in the process of correcting this misuse of the ditches by developers; when suddenly sexual harassment, bullying and retaliation charges suddenly boiled to the surface. Now everyone's forgotten about correcting a long running wrong. @bob1 should fess up if he's running for that board.
jodiFL
Beach Fanatic
I always was told they were "canals" not ditches. Most of the ones originally dug do run to the bay. But they do need to stop developments from using them for storm drainage. From what I can tell they have been making new developments build retention ponds that can be managed by SWMC using several different methods including fish that eat the larvae. Alot of drainage problems in some of the places around here that use them (mosquito canals) for that run into problems because they depend on the tides in the bay to be able to drain water away properly (or in a homeowners point of view..."in a timely manner so my house doesnt flood"). And you can bet that alot of the "poisons" you find in them are from yard runoff not put there by SWMC. I can remember one flood event several years ago that completely blocked 98 near/including 393 to Publix that lasted for several hours,stranding alot of people. I chose to stop at Los Rancheros,have a margarita, and check the tide times. Sure enough about 20 minutes after low tide you could see the water rushing north to the bay.
Taco-Zero
Beach Lover
I remember that day well! It was an eye opener to see where it floods in this town and some people new to our area are unaware when purchasing land or housing....
