Question
Hi there,

I am renting a house in Australia with a water feature which hasnt been used for over 1 year.  The water collection container is 1.5 metre / 40cm .  I have cleared the leaves and twigs from the container, and tried to empty it of stagnant, brown water, however I wasn't able to empty it of water completely.  I refilled the container with fresh water and have turned the water feature on.  In doing this, I noticed an abundance of mosquitos and eggs.  How do you suggest I get rid of the mosquitos?  Should I find another way to empty the container completely?  Will the running water help with the mosquito problem?  We would like to keep our electricity bills down; ideally we don't want to use the water feature but we also don't want mosquitos.  Does the water feature require much
energy when it is switched on?

Thanks for your help

Kind regards
Sarah

Answer
To completely empty the water feature, you can usually use the feature's own pump.  Sometimes this works.

There are several products you can use to get rid of mosquitoes but most of them are also hazardous to birds.  The running water definitely helps.

You can calculate the energy consumption using some free online services.  The average 400 liter/hour (100gph) water pump would cost $0.85 AUD ($0.75 USD) per day.

I'd recommend filling it in with dirt if you don't want to use it.  That will probably be the easiest solution in the long run.