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City of Wausau to Receive Funds Through the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program

Tuesday, October 24th, 2023 -- 9:01 AM

Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), announced more than $402 million has been allocated for financial assistance through the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program (SDWLP) to 106 municipalities to improve drinking water quality for Wisconsinites.

The funding will help municipalities across the state construct needed water infrastructure projects, including replacing lead service lines and addressing emerging contaminants such as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), with a special focus on small and disadvantaged communities.

There are more than 167,000 known lead service lines throughout the state, and this funding will help municipalities continue their efforts toward the goal of replacing the remaining lead service lines.

Wisconsin has been a national leader in providing funding to replace lead service lines and was the first state to utilize SDWLP funds for this purpose. Examples of preliminarily approved projects include the city of Wausau receiving more than $17 million in Emerging Contaminant funding, of which $5,100,000 is principal forgiveness, and the remaining $12.3 million will be available at a subsidized interest rate.

The funding will be used to reduce concentrations of PFAS in Wausau’s drinking water. This will be achieved by constructing a long-term PFAS removal treatment system at the city’s new drinking water treatment facility.

The city of Wausau is also receiving $5,790,028 in Lead Service Line Replacement funding, of which $3,641,078 will be in the form of principal forgiveness, with the remainder through a loan with a .25 percent interest rate. The money will be awarded to municipalities over the next year and disbursed as eligible costs are incurred.

The funding comes from a combination of the DNR’s SDWLP ($276.7 million), Supplemental Drinking Water Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding ($24.9 million), Emerging Contaminant (PFAS) Drinking Water BIL funding ($26.6 million), and the Lead Service Line Replacement BIL Funding ($74.1 million).

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.