Well, I believe I finally have resolved this problem. A neighbor gave me some advice that seems to have eliminated these insects for good. I have not seen a single one for the past two days.\
The neighbor agreed with DavidM and said the technique of pouring boiling water down the drains a few times each day for a few days in a row can often do the trick. But he also said to add one tablespoon full of household bleach to the boiling water before pouring it down the drain.
I don’t know how much of a difference it makes but he was careful to specify that I should let the water get to a boil first before adding the bleach to the water. I have been pouring boiling water down my kitchen drains for about a week and it seemed like the number of insects I saw each day was slowly declining. But as soon as I added the bleach, two days later and they are all gone.
I am very grateful to DavidM and I hope this technique will find its way into the hands of anyone else who has this same problem. I wonder if it might be an idea to collect all household tips and techniques posted to these boards and put them into a special place to make it easy for people to find them?
I live in the desert and for years all we had were waterbugs until 3 things happened
1 a huge migration of people from big cities who brought their vermin with them unknowingly
2 they made the city/county put in new sewer pipes that made it easier for them to propagate an
3 several warm and mild winters that didn’t kill them off like in years past what makes this a problem is that leads to more food for the more dangerous and poisonous insets like scorpions black widows ect … however my cats are fond of them as it’s something they can hunt and catch in their old age
I wonder if it might be a great idea to breed cats and train them to kill harmful insects. Then you might be able to provide an excellent service to your fellow humans by selling these cats. With a little luck, you might even be able to make some money as well. Thank you for sharing this idea. I’ve always loved cats.