We came across this helpful article on myPMP(professional pest management).net. You can see an excerpt below or check out their website for the full article!
Right under our noses is a stinky and challenging situation that can cause disease as well as damage to your business or home — rats!
Urban sewers and storm drain systems are a perfect infrastructural environment for rats because they perpetuate a monoculture through consistent temperature, abundant food and a lack of predators.
Sanitary sewers are an underground transport system for sewage from residential and commercial structures to facilitate treatment and/or disposal. Ones servicing industrial areas transport industrial wastewater. They’re operated separately and independently of storm drain systems that transport rainfall runoff and other water from city surface streets. Combined sewers transport sewage and stormwater, and because of this, sewers can become potent reservoirs for rats. System defects or delayed maintenance problems support surface and subsurface rat populations.
Urban rodents are presenting a risk to public health because they’re associated with a number of zoonoses, according to the 2008 World Health Organization publication “Public Health Significance of Urban Pests.” Additionally, a rat’s strong instinct to burrow and gnaw damages the sewer and drainage infrastructure, particularly where defects exist.
Knowing the do’s and don’ts of a comprehensive system for eliminating a rat infestation is essential to ensure public health and safety.
See more of this excerpt from pmp.net – full article