With plenty of standing, stagnant water from a wet spring, warmer weather is sure to deliver a population explosion of mosquitoes.

To combat the inevitable, the city of Huron is just completing its second larval control effort and, weather permitting, plans to start its citywide spraying program this week.

So far, mosquito counts at the various traps have not been that high, said Huron Parks and Recreation Director LaRon Klock.

“But you get some warm weather here and get that water shallow enough and you’re going to start seeing some mosquitoes with this much water around,” he said.

Using its two sprayers, the department was planning to spray either Tuesday night or Thursday night depending on the weather conditions. The entire city can be sprayed in one evening.

Like last year, the sprayers will do not only the alleys but the streets as well.

“I think it’s well worth it rather than just doing alleys,” Klock said. “We have so much better coverage.”

The city has been larvaciding where mosquito larvae are present.

“The first time was more at the spots where traditionally we knew we had larvae and the spots we had larvae last year,” he said.

Those areas include ponds and ditches. Most of the areas that were treated the second time were on the east and west sides of town.

The process has begun on the south side of town where there is a considerable amount of standing water.

“If they’re too deep or if there’s moving water then we don’t do them until we see larvae in them,” Klock said. “We’re trying to make the best use of our larvacide.”

Mosquito counts are also done to determine if the species that carries the West Nile virus is present. The West Nile threat will increase with the warmer weather.

The city has also sprayed public parks and recreation areas for special events such as last weekend’s Wheel Jam V.

Klock said spraying hasn’t been done to a great degree in the parks yet because there haven’t been too many complaints, but he expects that to change. Park spraying will be done in between the citywide spraying efforts.

The city received $7,257 in grant funds from the state this year for its mosquito control program, somewhat less than 2007. Chemicals were purchased with the grant funds and the city will tap its regular budget to pay for the labor and other expenses involved in spraying.

Klock expects there to be enough money on hand to spray once a week during the peak mosquito season from July through August and then twice a month going into September.

But once again property owners are reminded there are steps they can take to reduce mosquito numbers and the threat posed by the West Nile virus.

Mosquitoes must have water to reproduce. Standing water should be removed from such places as boats and pickup boxes and tires. Bird baths, wading pools and pet dishes should be drained or dumped and refreshed with new water every week.

People should avoid outdoor activity at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active. If they must be outside, they should wear loose-fitting clothing covering as much skin as possible and apply mosquito repellents containing DEET.