Cockroaches and Sewers

One Arizona politico found this out recently on a junket he took that came nowhere near an exotic clime. "My God, the walls are moving!" he exclaimed as he crawled down the sewer ladder. They were covered so thickly with roaches that the movement of the crawling insects did indeed make the walls appear to move. This journey underground made him aware of the hazards faced by sewer workers who contend with this problem daily, and of a municipality’s responsibility to provide those workers with the cleanest safest possible environment, as well as safeguarding their citizens from roach-transmitted disease.

But problems with sewer roaches are not confined to municipal officials. Although much of the country is blissfully unaware of the problems caused by roach-infested sewers it’s not uncommon in the Southwest to find roach complaint hotlines listed under city department of water and wastewater listings in the phone book. The subject is definitely on the mind of Sun Belt residents.

A serious problem. In great contrast to the clean aboveground environment found in tasteful neighborhoods, the American roaches found in sewers live only a few short feet downward, and breed in the comparatively drier areas near the access holes of manhole covers - their number one reproduction site. From there, they can get into homes through the dried out traps of unused bathrooms, or through plumbing vents, an important site for PCOs to close off by using caulk or fine mesh screen. In fact, the presence of roaches in kitchens and baths is attributed by some to entry via sewer lines.

But treating sewers is not that difficult - or that expensive -a task, and it’s one PCOs might find profitable now that insecticidal coatings make the job easier. One such coating, manufactured by Insecta Inc. in Deerfield Beach, Fla., and distributed y Envirochem, Phoenix, Ariz., is still waiting to be patented. But it has won approval from public venues such as the state of California, where it is the only latex-based insecticide coating currently approved.

"Our product handles the hardest problems under the worst conditions," says Envirochem CEO Robert Carragher, "and in glowing style."

"Dust takes the same time to apply, but lasts only 30 days," says his assistant Pam Romero. "Plus, it stops working in wet environments, and sewers are humid places."

The active ingredient in Insecta, chlorpyrifos, has a low resistance factor, says Carragher, and since there are no sublethal doses of the product, no resistance should build up.

There is also the anesthetic appeal of its white coating, which makes visual inspection of the sewer access easier. Also, says Carrgher, it cuts down on concrete deterioration and corrosion of metal ladders caused by the hydrogen sulfide present in sewers.

His company has been providing its product primarily in the sunbelt: Tempe, Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz. Sacramento and Long each, Calif., Hallandale, Fla., Fort Worth, Texas and the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii, in addition to venues in New York, Missouri and New Mexico. While Tempe buys the product from Envirochem for its own workers to apply, Phoenix subcontracts the work out to Envirochem. After a major study, it clearly determined that this was the best choice, based on research into the costs of labor, material and equipment and into safety and effectiveness.

The city, like many others, had been using a boric acid dust in its more than 60,000 sewer access holes, applied on an average of twice a year. Their study showed that Envirochem’s coating lasted for up to three years, eliminating a lot of work hours from city payrolls. And, says city official Peter Kaleta, complaints from its citizens have decreased substantially since the program started.

The product is also gaining acceptance in other parts of the world, according to the manufacturer. It is currently being tested in the thatched huts of Honduras against flies that cause a sleeping sickness-like-disease. Research confirms that the insecticide coated surface must be kept clean to be effective; the native-made mortar is soon coated with smoke from cooking fires, a drawback to the paint’s effectiveness in these areas, but no problem in sewers.

Equipment needed to do a sewer job costs around $3,000 to $4,000 says Romero, but that’s for a system that needs to be cleaned daily. Envirochem is beginning to offer a $4,000 to $5,000 rig that’s entirely self-enclosed.

Insecticide coatings also can be used against other pests, such as the ubiquitous imported fire ant. Attracted by the energy fields in electrical boxes such as traffic control boxes and utilities boxes, fire ants can be controlled by painting inside the boxes with Inscta, says Romero. "It’s listed for use in above and below ground utilities and enclosures."

A new market? Clearly there is a new business opportunity here for PCOs to expand into the municipal sewer market. A few large pest control companies in the Phoenix area already do such work, and several larger PCOs in Italy - where some sewers may be 2,000 years old - have municipal clients in a place. "The Tiber, the streets of Venice, they are known as open sewers, but they are now being cleaned p," says Romero.

But working with the public sector is not without its drawbacks. "You have to expect one to two years delay with any service offered to a municipality," says Carragher. "You agree, the purchasing agent agrees, and you think it’s going to happen soon, but then you run into the red tape." In small towns, he says, there is usually less of that, and thus a quicker application.

PCOs are overlooking a good bet, one right beneath their feet in the city’s sewer lines. While they are helping make the world safe for the rest of us, they might as well learn to make the world safe for Ed Norton.

___ Cindy Grahl

The author is managing editor of Pest Control Technology magazine.