Spotting the water hazards

BURBANK — The recent rise in foreclosed homes in Burbank and Glendale due to the recession has led to an increase in abandoned swimming pools, creating prime breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes and potential drowning hazards, authorities said.

Helicopter patrol officers have reported a 10% to 15% increase in grimy pools over the same period last year, many of them attributable to abandoned foreclosures, prompting agencies to actively seek them out as the West Nile virus season takes hold.

“We don’t wait for them to get reported,” said Sam Engel, Neighborhood Services administrator for Glendale.

His agency keeps regular tabs on foreclosed homes instead of waiting for neighbor complaints, he said.

There have been no recorded cases of human West Nile virus infections in Los Angeles County, although vector control officials announced the first mosquito case in Carson last month.

Last year, the number of human infections was up, with 156 reported cases in the county, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Complaints often increase in May and June because the warmer weather attracts mosquitoes to pools, potentially stoking the spread of West Nile virus, which in humans can lead to severe illness, including fever and vomiting, or sometimes paralysis, coma or death, health officials said.

Neighbor complaints of murky swimming pools have also increased in Burbank due to the rise of foreclosed homes, said Terre Hirsch, the city’s assistant community development director and license and code services administrator.

Stagnant and contaminated water can also be found on the rooftops of commercial buildings and in abandoned construction sites, he said.

Police officers have also noticed an uptick in the number of abandoned pools during regular flyovers above the two cities, said Glendale Sgt. Steve Robertson, who helps oversee the Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank Joint Air Support Unit.

“These numbers are growing with the rise of vacant homes,” he said.

Keeping up with the increase in dirty pools has been challenging for the flight crew because homes are often abandoned, Robertson said.

The flight crew, along with code inspectors from both cities, conduct two or three aerial checks each year in search of stagnant water.

When they find a green pool, code inspectors will visit the property to determine whether the pool is unsafe. Some pools may look unsafe from the air, but physical inspections will occasionally show that the property owner is already treating the pool.

The flight crew also looks for unkempt pools on their regular patrol routes. Some weeks, they find three or four potentially hazardous pools during their patrols, Robertson said.

Glendale requires property owners to keep their pools clean, Engel said. If they can’t afford to maintain their pools, the city can require them to drain the pool.

The Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District has been keeping an eye on green pools since last year, when the number of foreclosed homes skyrocketed, said district spokeswoman, Truc Dever.