How do I ask a neighbour to cover his rain barrel without blaming him for every mosquito?
Neighbours“That's water for my plants, not rubbish,” my neighbour said when I asked about his uncovered barrel.
I hadn't meant to suggest throwing the barrel away. I was trying to ask about the water standing in it. We have both been swatting mosquitoes near our back steps, and I also found water sitting in two saucers in my own yard.
The [CDC's household mosquito guidance](https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/mosquito-control/mosquito-control-at-home.html) recommends tightly covering rain barrels and dealing weekly with items that hold water. I emptied and cleaned my saucers. I don't know which locations, if any, are contributing to the mosquitoes we see.
He thought my visit meant I had decided his barrel caused the problem. I made that worse by saying, “It's the obvious place,” before admitting that I hadn't checked the rest of my own yard.
How do I restart this as a shared check rather than an accusation? I would like him to keep collecting water with a suitable cover, while being clear that I am not tracing every bite back to his plants.