Wausau Mayor Hopes to be First in Line for Lead Pipe Replacement

Wednesday, April 5th, 2023 -- 8:13 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) The state of Wisconsin stands to benefit from an announcement by the EPA funneling over six billion dollars from the bipartisan infrastructure bill for clean drinking water access.

According to Mike Leischner with WSU, Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg says Tuesday's announcement was a direct result of a recent summit at the White House regarding lead service line replacement, which she and Milwaukee's Caviler Johnson participated in.

"I think that the administration received our feedback loud and clear that we're really excited to get going on this. But we need the funding that goes with it. So, earmarking these dollars toward the water infastructure is really important for us."

Rosenberg says it's still unclear how much Wisconsin will receive from the allotment, but you can expect her city to be one of the first in line to apply for the funding through the DNR. "Through their normal day safe drinking water loan, clean drinking water stuff, they have a geat process, but that deadline is coming up in June."

She says city leaders are going to work quickly to apply for the funding with the DNR safe drinking water program later this year. "So, we can put it in front of both our Utility Commission and probably the Finance Committee at the same time, so that we're all dealing with the same information and we can all be excited together, I hope, and we can push forward and replace these lead pipes. We would need to have a special meeting so we can starting pushing forward on this because first come, first serve and I want to be at the head of the line."

Rosenberg says the utility's goal is to find a way to leverage the dollars so they can reduce costs for homeowners as they look to replace some eight thousand lead service lines city-wide, a project that could cost up to 80 million dollars. You can expect discussion on the matter in the next few weeks.

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