MILAN, Illinois – Milan Public Works says they are one of the only places in the areas that use “Mug a Bug”. It’s a spray that kills mosquitoes and gnats instantly, and with all the flood water this season the public works crews have been spraying nonstop.
“They are really bad this year,” says Milan Public Works employee, Steve Gibson. “I mean you can walk across the grass and be covered in them.”
Gibson is one of two people at Milan Public Works who is responsible for mugging away the bugs.
“You can’t really see it today, but it just kind of comes out and funnels around and makes a big mist, kind of canvases over everything,” Gibson explains.
He’s the man driving around a white pick-up truck that goes a steady ten miles an hour – all while spraying bugs away across town.
“You just got to keep yourself awake somehow,” chuckles Gibson.
Milan is the only place in the Quad City area fighting the gnarly mosquitoes using this tactic.
“It knocks them out right away,” Gibson comments. “We are surrounded by levees basically, so we have a lot of areas with low lying water.”
With all the water this spring, instead of spraying their usual two nights a week, they are doubling up and spraying four nights.
“It takes about 2 and a half hours to go through the whole town,” says Gibson. “This is all done over time because we don’t go out until 8:30 PM.”
And with more water still expected this year, Steve knows he’ll be sticking to his path for a while.
“It’s going to keep accumulating anyway, for every rain you get more mosquitoes,” says Gibson.
After reaching out to other area public works, they say they don’t spray and instead use abatement packets – which Milan uses as well – because they are cheaper and require less time to distribute.
Milan Public Works says they try to spray more at night when mosquitoes are more prevalent.