Officials with the City of Greenville are asking for the public’s help controlling the mosquito population.

The city uses a fogger rig, as well as larvicide in areas where there is standing water, but officials are asking the public to do its part as well.

“Our goal in mosquito management in Greenville is to reduce the breeding grounds on city property and to assist in educating our homeowners and businesses owners on how to maintain their property to help reduce the breeding of mosquitoes on their private or business property,” said Greenville Police Chief Lonzo Ingram.

The spraying and other measures are an attempt to keep the mosquito population down to help prevent the spread of diseases they can transmit to humans and pets, especially in light of the Zika virus, which is spread by mosquitos and was discovered in Alabama in February.

According to a city ordinance, it is “unlawful to have, keep, maintain, cause or permit, within the city any collection of standing or flowing water in which mosquitos breed or are likely to breed, unless such collection of water is treated so as to effectively prevent such breeding.”

That includes water found in ditches, pools, ponds, fountains, cistern, barrels, buckets, defective roof gutters and other similar containers.

Ingram suggests that residential and commercial property owners remove anything that holds water for at least five days like kids toys, yard art, planting containers, baby pools, and tires.

“If you have areas holding stagnant water, containers around your house, kids toys in the lawn, old tires stacked up around your property, then you are most likely to have mosquitoes on your property,” Ingram said.