§ 38-62. Mosquito breeding places.

(a)

It shall be unlawful for any person to have, keep, maintain, cause or permit within the city any collection of standing or flowing water in which mosquitoes breed or are likely to breed, unless such collection of water is treated so as effectually to prevent such breeding.

(b)

Collections of water in which mosquitoes breed or are likely to breed are those contained in ditches, ponds, pools, excavations, holes, depressions, open cesspools, privy vaults, fountains, cisterns, tanks, shallow wells, barrels, urns, cans, boxes, bottles, tubs, buckets, defective house gutters or similar water containers.

(c)

The natural presence of mosquito larvae in standing or running water shall be evidence that mosquitoes are breeding there.

(d)

Collections of water in which mosquitoes breed or are likely to breed shall be treated by such one or more of the following methods as shall be approved by the city health officer:

(1)

Screening with wire netting of at least 16 meshes to the inch each way or any other material which will effectually prevent the ingress or egress of mosquitoes.

(2)

Complete emptying unscreened containers every seven days, together with their thorough drying or cleaning.

(3)

Using a larvicide approved and applied under the direction of the city health officer.

(4)

Covering completely the surface of the water with kerosene, petroleum or paraffin oil once every seven days.

(5)

Cleaning and keeping sufficiently free of vegetable growth and other obstructions, and stocking with mosquito-destroying fish.

(6)

Filling or draining to the satisfaction of the city health officer.

(7)

Proper disposal, by removal or destruction, of tin cans, tin boxes, broken or empty bottles and similar articles likely to hold water.

(e)

For the purpose of this section, the person responsible for the condition of any premises as defined by subsection (b) of this section is the owner or the person using or occupying the premises or, if no person is using or occupying the premises, the person who by law is entitled to the immediate possession of the premises or, if the premises are used or occupied by two or more tenants of a common landlord or from grounds appurtenant to a house occupied by two or more tenants of a common landlord, the landlord. Each tenant, however, is responsible for that part of the premises which he occupies to the exclusion of the other tenants. If the premises are occupied by a tenant under a yearly or monthly tenancy or under a lease for not more than a year or under any lease whereby the lessor is expressly or impliedly obligated to keep the premises in repair, and the collection of standing or flowing water in which mosquitoes breed or are likely to breed is owing to the disrepair of the building or to any natural quality of the premises or to any condition that exists at the time when the tenant entered into possession or to anything done on the premises by the landlord during the existence of the tenancy or lease, the landlord is the person responsible. Any person who has caused to exist, on any premises of which he is not the owner, landlord, occupant, or tenant, any collection of water in which mosquitoes breed or are likely to breed is responsible, as well as the owner, landlord, tenant, or occupant, as the case may be.

(f)

The maintenance of a place which constitutes a mosquito breeding place is a public nuisance and may be abated against the responsible person, as defined in subsection (e) of this section, in the manner provided in division 2 of article II of chapter 2 or may be removed, with cost therefor assessed against the property as prescribed in section 38-93.

(Code 1988, §§ 11-41—11-46)