Like There's No Other Standing Water Anywhere In New York City
Sam Roberts writes in The New York Times that there's a crackdown on birdbaths in New York City in hopes of fighting West Nile Virus:

Imagine Joseph Pomares's surprise when he went to his local post office in Long Island City, Queens, one Saturday last summer to collect a certified letter. He had no idea what awaited him, but the last thing he expected to find was a summons from the city's health department.

The summons referred to a two-story brick house in Astoria that Mr. Pomares, a 53-year-old home renovation contractor, had recently refurbished and rented to tenants. Titled "vector control inspection work order," the citation accused him of violating what appeared to be a paradoxical imperative: "standing water" in a birdbath. The violation of Article 151 of the city's health code could subject him to a $2,000 fine.

"I bought the birdbath brand new. I thought I was doing something good, and I changed the water every other day," Mr. Pomares recalled. "I had beautiful birds."

...In a city where Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has all but banned smoking and waged war on soda and trans fats, some New Yorkers may complain that the crackdown on birdbaths is yet another intrusion by the nanny state or a ruse to raise more money for municipal coffers.

Actually, a regulation against stagnant water has been on the books for more than a decade, but in the battle against West Nile virus, the health code was amended last year. It explicitly made landlords liable and applied the rule, apparently more broadly, to "standing water" rather than "stagnant water" and further empowered the department not only to prevent "the breeding or harborage" of mosquitoes, but also to prevent "conditions conducive" to their breeding or harborage.

Like leaving a glass of water on your terrace while you go inside for a phone call? That's standing water. If the birdbath people are going to get summonsed, the careless water drinkers should, too!