DRAINAGE AND FILLING METHODS FOR 
MOSQUITO AND MALARIA CONTROL 
By NELSON H. RECTOR 
MISSISSIPPI STATE BOARD OP HEALTH, JACKSON, MISS. 
Historical 
Sir Ronald Ross (1910) states: “Prob¬ 
ably the ancients, and certainly the Italians, 
since the time of Lancisi (1717), were so 
well acquainted with the good effect of 
drainage that this principle was accepted as 
a dogma in all the medical schools. ’ ’ 
In 1902 Sir Malcolm Watson began using 
drainage in his successful malarial control 
work in Malaya. In 1904 General Gorgas, 
LePrince and others undertook the control 
of malaria (and yellow fever) in the Pan¬ 
ama Canal Zone, utilizing all known meth¬ 
ods for reducing the mosquito population, 
but placing major dependence on drain¬ 
age. Between 1870 and 1920 an enormous 
amount of drainage was executed in every 
section of the United States. This period 
may properly be called the era of drainage. 
Malaria control drainage is a very spe¬ 
cialized type of work and should not be 
undertaken unless well qualified, experi¬ 
enced engineers are available to select, plan, 
and supervise the work. As a general rule, 
agricultural and malaria control drainage 
are not one and the same. The agricultural 
engineer desires to remove water quickly to 
prevent damage to crops, while the sanitary 
engineer aims to remove residual water be¬ 
fore a brood of mosquitoes can develop. 
Man-made Malaria 
Much of the early drainage work carried 
on with relief labor was designed to elimi¬ 
nate mosquito-breeding areas that had been 
created by engineers along highways and 
railroads. Today highway and railroad 
engineers, realizing that good drainage 
along their rights-of-way makes the struc¬ 
tures more stable and reduces maintenance 
costs, are not creating any more undrained 
borrow pits. 
Preliminary Investigation 
After the malariologist and entomologist 
have determined that malaria is a problem 
in a locality, and that an anopheline vector 
breeds in the area, the engineer, begins his 
studies. He determines the feasibility of 
the project from the standpoint of: (1) 
whether a positive or suitable outlet is avail¬ 
able, (2) its probable cost, and (3) whether 
the whole project seems to be practical. He 
will determine the area where drainage ap¬ 
pears to be most feasible and will also de¬ 
cide on the projects to be undertaken first 
and will place the others in their proper 
positions, based on their relative impor¬ 
tance. During this study, he will also keep 
in mind the types of drainage applicable 
and will determine if the ditch should be 
constructed by hand, with dynamite, with a 
road machine, with mules and slips, or by a 
dragline. He must also decide whether the 
drainage will be by means of open earth 
ditch, tile, vertical drainage, underground 
drain, or invert. The selection of the 
proper method is of paramount importance. 
It would be foolish to spend the time 
necessary to make a scientific investigation 
if a preliminary study shows that the per 
capita cost would be prohibitive, that a 
positive outlet is not available, or that the 
drainage system would have to be very deep 
and traverse unstable soils. In a few places 
failure to follow these principles has cost 
the tax payers large sums. More than one 
drainage system has been rendered almost 
useless because the outlet canal was not 
carried into a positive outlet. Maintenance 
costs are always high on poorly designed 
drainage projects and in some instances the 
whole investment has been lost. 
After it has been determined that the 
proposed work is feasible and necessary, the 
