Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), announced a new grant program that will provide municipal community public water systems with the funds to conduct community outreach efforts in support of ongoing or forthcoming lead service line replacement projects.
These grant funds, provided by the Biden-Harris Administration under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help bolster outreach efforts by encouraging collaboration between municipal systems and locally trusted messengers, such as community-based organizations, to provide consistent communication and public education with residents, property owners, consumers, and community leaders throughout project planning and implementation. The Lead Service Line Replacement Community Outreach Grant will begin accepting applications Aug. 29.
According to a 2023 report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum, more than 37,000 lead service lines have been replaced or turned off since 2018, which is more lines replaced or turned off in just five years than in the previous two decades.
A municipal community public water system is a public water system that serves 15 or more service connections or regularly serves a community of at least 25 residents for at least six months of the year and is owned by a city, town, village, county, sanitary district, or other government entity or government-owned institution. It is critical for municipalities to replace lead service lines in their entirety, both the lines on private property and the lines on public property, as lead exposure is dangerous for people of any age, but especially for kids, infants, and pregnant women.
