The residents of Playa Honda no longer know how to end the mosquito plague that has been ravaging their homes for weeks. The cause is a problem in one of the water treatment plant filters at the airport, which causes wastewater to attract these insects.
Chelo Quevedo is one of those affected. Her grandson, barely a year old, suffers the consequences of the bites. "We have already had to go to the emergency room twice to give him corticosteroids", says Chelo. "And we can't continue like this, a solution must be found to this situation now." Chelo says that she has gone to the veterinarian of the San Bartolomé City Council, asking for the fumigation of the trees that are next to her house. "They say they are already fumigating but I haven't seen it, and from seven in the afternoon, this park continues to fill with mosquitoes, which end up flooding our house."
For his part, Juan Antonio de la Hoz, Councilor for the Environment of San Bartolomé, has admitted the existence of a breakdown in one of the water treatment plant filters that the airport uses to water its gardens, whose wastewater has become the source of the mosquito plague. "I have contacted Aena, and they have told me that they are going to solve the problem as soon as possible," explained the councilor. "For the moment, we have taken short-term measures, such as the daily fumigation of the trees, which was previously monthly."
The neighbors, tired of looking for ineffective insecticides, have started collecting signatures in some supermarkets in the area. "In the eleven years that I have lived in Playa Honda, I have never seen anything like it," said Petra, whose house is near the airport's treatment plant. "It's just that none of the insecticides we buy have any effect anymore."
