The Madrid City Council has started this Tuesday the annual campaign to control the black fly in the urban section of the Manzanares river, between the residential area of the Fuencarral-El Pardo district and the limit of the municipal area of the city, in the districts of Villaverde and Villa de Vallecas.
As reported by the City Council of the capital, the campaign begins this year one month in advance compared to 2022 because the high temperatures advance the appearance of this insect.
In this exercise, unlike the previous ones, the City Council has foreseen that "a dozen treatments" could be carried out in the river and its banks with the aim of "reducing the presence of this annoying insect to a minimum". During the campaign carried out in 2022, a total of six larvicidal treatments were carried out. The general effectiveness of the applications in the section under control was "highly satisfactory", being estimated at an "average value of 90.33%".
Since 2019, the Madrid City Council has been acting to stop the rise of this diptera in the river, carrying out two types of work: clearing existing vegetation in contact with water and disinsection treatments that, depending on weather conditions , occupy from the beginning of spring until the month of October.
The conservation contract for the Manzanares River as it passes through the municipal area, which came into operation last October, guarantees both environmental and water protection and its fluvial ecosystems, including associated facilities. This service pays special attention to treatments for dipterans, including black flies, for which the number of annual actions that can be carried out has been increased depending on the needs of each season. The works carried out on the vegetation of the islands in the urban section have also been reviewed, adjusting the equipment and duration based on the experience acquired in recent years.
The actions are carried out in coordination between the river conservation services of the Environment and Mobility Area and the Department of Pest and Vector Control of Madrid Salud and consist of the detection, monitoring, treatment and surveillance of these insects to minimize the impact that they generate in the population and in the environment.
