I hope this advice will save millions of lives in the long run.
A long time ago I learned that mosquitoes are among the deadliest creatures on earth, as pointed out above, and that they can lay eggs in surprisingly tiny pools of standing water which hatch and become mosquitoes in a very short time.
These pools are "all over the place" if you look for them, including rain gutters, plastic sheets covering equipment, planter pots, knotholes in trees, tires, etc. etc, and other items.
I found dozens of places like this around the place.
Tires are the worst to try to drain.
I found a quick, cheap, automatic way of draining water from places like these was by hanging an absorbent cloth or paper draining material in the item and allowing the other end to be outside and below the bottom of the item to be drained. Sometimes the end lying in the item has to be weighted.
This allows water to be absorbed up the absorbent, go over the edge of the item, and "fall down" through the absorbant onto the ground below until the item is emptied automatically.
Simple, easy, US$ Zero.
And no chemicals ! Attachments show how this works with a container of red water being drained into a clear plastic cup after about two hours, and more dramatically, from two kitty litter container tops after a rain. I tried a rope as the absorber in the left one and it worked, but not as well as the one on the right, which was a triple-folded piece of ordinary cloth. The right one was emptied in less than fifteen minutes. (Depth of water in the container tops after the rain was about 3/8 inch.)
Note this is not due merely to capillary action, but also to gravity allowing the absorbent material to drain down once it gets over the hump.
I assume this method has been used by others; it's pretty obvious, but it only becomes "obvious"
after you happen to think of it.
And just think: US$ Zero, no chemicals.
Feel free to copy this
in toto for distribution as my gift to humanity.
Terry, 230RN