Gov. Evers, DNR Announce More Than $159 Million to Ensure Clean, Safe Drinking Water for Wisconsinites in 29 Municipalities

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), today announced more than $159 million has been allocated for financial assistance through the Lead Service Line Replacement Program to 29 municipalities across the state to ensure Wisconsinites have access to clean, safe drinking water that is free of lead. The funding will help municipalities replace lead service lines, with a special focus on small and disadvantaged communities.

“There is no safe level of lead, period, and getting these harmful contaminants out of our water systems once and for all has been a top priority of my administration since Day One,” said Gov. Evers. “Wisconsin has been a national leader in spearheading lead service line replacement efforts, and thanks in part to the bipartisan, pro-kid 2025-27 Biennial Budget I signed earlier this year, in which we were able to increase borrowing for the Environmental Improvement Fund by over $730 million to help meet statewide demand for low-interest financing for clean water and safe drinking water loans, dozens of municipalities across the state are getting a much-needed boost to continue this important work.”

Passed by the U.S. Congress in 2021, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) included $50 billion for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen and rebuild the nation’s water infrastructure. This historic investment provided $15 billion for lead service line identification and replacement nationwide.

A subprogram of the federal Safe Drinking Water Loan Program, the Lead Service Line Replacement Program, utilizing federal BIL funding, provides funding to municipalities for both public and private lead service line replacements and related lead service line inventory work to protect public health. Since the first version of the Lead Service Line Replacement Program began in state fiscal year 2017, the DNR and the Wisconsin Department of Administration have provided more than $267 million in financial assistance to Wisconsin municipalities for lead service line replacement projects. Additional information about the current Lead Service Line Replacement Program can be found online here.

“Every family, every business, every school, and every community needs to know when they turn on their tap, it’s clean water coming out. Sadly, that is just not the case in too many of our communities, and the consequences of lead poisoning, especially for our children, are dire,” said U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin). “That’s why I am so proud to have voted for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace dangerous lead pipes, delivering clean water to families across the state and creating good-paying jobs in the process.”

Funding requested for the current cycle totaled over $182 million. Any project that was not fully funded will be offered base Safe Drinking Water Loan Program funds that will be at the standard subsidized loan interest rate at either 55 percent or 33 percent of the market rate, rather than the 0.25 percent rate offered for loan funds from the BIL Lead Service Line capitalization grant. See the DNR’s Interest Rates webpage for more information.

According to the DNR, throughout the state, there are more than 132,000 known public side lead service lines, more than 128,000 known private side lead service lines, and more than 208,000 service lines of unknown composition that may contain lead. This funding will help municipalities continue their efforts toward the goal of replacing the remaining lead service lines.

Examples of preliminarily approved projects include:

Milwaukee | Over $50 million
The city of Milwaukee was allocated over $50 million in Lead Service Line Replacement funding, of which more than $19 million of these funds are lead service line principal forgiveness, with the remainder through a loan with a 0.25 percent interest rate.

Racine | $40 million
The city of Racine was allocated $40 million in Lead Service Line Replacement funding, of which more than $21 million of these funds are lead service line principal forgiveness, with the remainder through a loan with a 0.25 percent interest rate.

Manitowoc | Over $14 million
The city of Manitowoc was allocated over $14 million in Lead Service Line Replacement funding, of which nearly $7.3 million of these funds are lead service line principal forgiveness, with the remainder through a loan with a 0.25 percent interest rate.

Oshkosh | Over $6 million
The city of Oshkosh was allocated over $6 million in Lead Service Line Replacement funding, of which more than $2.7 million of these funds are lead service line principal forgiveness, with the remainder through a loan with a 0.25 percent interest rate.

Chippewa Falls | Over $1.9 million

The city of Chippewa Falls was allocated over $1.9 million in Lead Service Line Replacement funding, of which $957,750 of these funds are lead service line principal forgiveness, with the remainder through a loan with a 0.25 percent interest rate.

Thorp | Over $733,000

The city of Thorp was allocated over $733,000 in Lead Service Line Replacement funding, of which more than $366,000 of these funds are lead service line principal forgiveness, with the remainder through a loan with a 0.25 percent interest rate.

Rice Lake | $732,500

The city of Rice Lake was allocated $732,500 in Lead Service Line Replacement funding, of which nearly $550,000 of these funds are lead service line principal forgiveness, with the remainder through a loan with a 0.25 percent interest rate.

The 2026 Lead Service Line Replacement Program funding list is available here. Additional information on Lead Service Line Replacement funding is available here.

Gov. Evers has made efforts to replace lead service lines across the state a top priority. Earlier this year, Gov. Evers announced the Wisconsin Department of Health Services finalized a new rule, making permanent an emergency rule that the governor approved in January, to combat lead poisoning statewide by lowering the lead poisoning threshold to 3.5 µg/dL. By lowering the lead poisoning threshold, more kids and families will be eligible for lead poisoning and intervention resources, including education programming, screening, care coordination or follow-up services for kids not covered by a third-party payer, and other activities related to poisoning or exposure.

Additionally, the governor’s 2025-27 Biennial Budget proposal included an investment of more than $300 million to help get lead out of Wisconsinites’ pipes, bubblers, schools, homes, and child care centers for good. Unfortunately, Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature gutted the governor’s efforts to clean up lead, PFAS, and other harmful contaminants statewide and rejected hundreds of millions of dollars in investments to ensure kids, families, and farmers have access to safe and clean drinking water. Despite this setback, Gov. Evers maintains that replacing lead service lines and ensuring Wisconsinites have access to clean and safe water is essential.

ADDITIONAL EVERS ADMINISTRATION EFFORTS TO ENSURE WISCONSINITES HAVE ACCESS TO CLEAN, SAFE DRINKING WATER
Gov. Evers declared 2019 the Year of Clean Drinking Water, and for the past six years, the governor has prioritized efforts to invest in clean water infrastructure and ensure Wisconsinites have access to safe, clean water statewide. Earlier this year, Gov. Evers declared 2025 the Year of the Kid in Wisconsin and announced several new efforts to address childhood lead poisoning and ensure clean drinking water for all, many of which were included in the 2025-27 bipartisan, pro-kid budget that the governor signed earlier this year.

To continue building upon the governor’s work to ensure Wisconsin’s kids and families have clean, safe drinking water, the 2025-27 Biennial Budget increases borrowing for the state’s Environmental Improvement Fund by $731.6 million to secure federal clean water and safe drinking water capitalization grants over the next four years. This will help meet the increasing demand from local communities who need support to upgrade local water systems and infrastructure to ensure every Wisconsin kid, family, and community has clean, safe drinking water.

In addition, the 2025-27 Biennial Budget provides:

• $2 million for the development of a remedial action plan for the remediation of arsenic-contaminated sediment in the Kewaunee Marsh;
• $4 million to be used for remedial action at the Amcast Superfund site;
• $6 million in bonding to be used for the Kenosha Dunes restoration project;
• $7.5 million for contaminated sediment removal from sites in the Great Lakes or its tributaries that are on Wisconsin’s impaired waters list to continue protecting this resource;
• $4 million for Urban Nonpoint Source cost-sharing and the Municipal Flood Control Program;
• $6.5 million to counties for capital projects that implement land and water resource management plans under the Targeted Runoff Management Program;
• $7 million for grants to counties for implementation of land and water resource management plans, including cost-share grants to landowners that install conservation practices on their land, such as erosion prevention strategies, through the Soil and Water Resource Management Program;
• $4 million for the repair, reconstruction, and removal of dams;
• Over $1.8 million over the biennium to update the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ systems and improve customer service for Wisconsinites; and
• More than $12 million to support county conservation staff around the state.

Additionally, Gov. Evers has been clear that his top priority in the 2025-27 Biennial Budget would be to pass a pro-kid budget that makes meaningful investments in Wisconsin’s kids at every stage and every age, from early childhood to K-12 to our higher education institutions, as well as ensuring kids and families have access to safe, clean drinking water. More information about the bipartisan pro-kid budget signed by Gov. Evers is available here. More on Gov. Evers’ efforts to ensure Wisconsin’s kids and families have clean, safe drinking water is available here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.