The Popular Party (PP) of La Rinconada has presented a motion to the local council calling for immediate and decisive action against the proliferation of Culex mosquitoes throughout the municipality. The initiative places special emphasis on the El Santísimo area, where residents have expressed their "deep concern and fear over the municipal inaction in the face of a real public health threat," as conveyed to PP representatives.
The popular party argues in its motion that the proximity of El Santísimo to irrigated agricultural areas and the "state of neglect" of the open channel of the Almonázar Stream, with stagnant water and excessive vegetation, create an "ideal breeding ground" for the mass reproduction of the mosquito that transmits West Nile Virus (WNV). It is recalled that this epidemiological alert affected a local resident last year.
“"The health of citizens cannot depend on provisional measures or seasonal patches. We have heard firsthand the ordeal that the families of El Santísimo suffer every day, trapped in their own homes unable to open their windows due to veritable clouds of insects."
The motion proposes a series of urgent agreements for the local executive: intensifying fumigation and larvicide treatments in drains and peripheral green areas, cleaning and clearing the stream bed and irrigation channels near homes, coordinating with the Health Department of the Regional Government of Andalusia to monitor risk levels, and launching public information campaigns on self-protection measures.
Virginia Pérez, president of the local PP, has stressed the "irresponsibility" of "looking the other way" given the experience of confirmed infections in La Rinconada. For his part, councilman José Enrique Soriano has stated that the current Municipal Control Plan "has fallen far short" given the persistence of the mosquito along the banks of the Guadalquivir, arguing that "prevention at critical points is the only effective way forward."
The PP demands the immediate approval of the motion to "permanently increase the resources and frequency of preventive treatments" and avoid "new human infections." Soriano concluded by calling for a favorable vote from the entire plenary, emphasizing that "the clearing of the Almonázar Stream and irrigation channels, and the necessary fumigation... admit no further ideological or bureaucratic delays."
Competencies regarding WNV are shared between the Regional Government of Andalusia (epidemiological surveillance) and the city councils (execution of Municipal Vector Surveillance and Control Plans). The Provincial Council of Seville must assist municipalities in this task.
