A large pool of stagnant storm water created by construction in northeast Boulder has sparked concern among residents and city officials that it could become a mosquito hot spot during peak season for West Nile virus.

The sitting water — located off Kalmia Avenue behind the Pleasant View Soccer Complex — is in an extended detention basin that collects storm water runoff at housing developments.



The water hasn't been drained since Thursday after a prominent rainfall, said Suzanne Real, a resident of Palo Park, a housing divisionthat borders the construction. Four construction teams there are building Northfield Commons, a 22-acre housing development.

Typically, such storm water needs 40 hours to sit while sediment from the construction separates itself out, said Steve Buckbee, a civil engineer for the city of Boulder.

But anytime a body of water sits for four or five days, it becomes reason for concern because mosquitoes can breed that quickly when it's hot outside, said Joe Malinowski, consumer protection program coordinator for Boulder County Public Health.

A large puddle?is shown outside a housing development in northeast Boulder by the Pleasant View Soccer Complex. The city, fielding calls from area residents concerned about West Nile virus, has asked a construction company working on the development to drain the water.

"Mosquitoes can produce more quickly in the heat," he said. "It can be dangerous if water's sat there for a long time and it's this hot outside."

By the end of this week, Buckbee said he plans to send a letter to Jeff Eckert, head of Coast to Coast Development Corp., a construction company working on the Northfield Commons housing development. Buckbee — who's been receiving calls from concerned residents — said the city has already verbally asked the construction company to drain the water.

Eckert didn't return a phone message or an e-mail from the Camera.

Real said she is nervous about the potential for an influx of mosquitoes.

"(My neighborhood) already has a bigger problem than most people in this town. We're a wetlands area," Real said. "Whenever it rains, the water just sits there too long."

July and early August is when most people are bitten by infected mosquitoes, said Heath Harmon, communicable disease control program coordinator for the county.

As of late afternoon Wednesday, Boulder County had 13 confirmed cases of West Nile virus in humans — more than any other county in the state, according to the health department's Web site.

Harmon said a 29-year-old Boulder woman was diagnosed this week — the first case in the city this season. Ten people who tested positive for the virus are from Longmont, though he emphasized that infected mosquitoes are found all over the county.

Five other people are being tested for the virus, he said.

Any form of sitting water should be drained if possible — new water should be added to even a birdbath a couple of times a week, Harmon said.

With larger bodies of water, Buckbee said, draining can be more difficult.