The contractor working on the lead service line replacement plan says they’re close to reaching their goals for 2024.
Eric Jones from CIP, the contractor hired by the city to replace lead lines in the city on both the public and private side, says workers so far have replaced 483 lines in the city. That’s still shy of the goal of 553 lines the city hopes to finish by the end of the year, but CIP plans to continue the work through October, according to a chart presented at the city’s Infrastructure Committee last week.
Many of those lines were replaced on the city’s Southeast Side, where the city has been reconstructing Eau Claire Boulevard. The firm knocked on doors and held meetings in the neighborhood.
The city announced last year that it would be one of the first recipients of a new program from the Biden Administration intended to fund the replacement of lead service pipes nationwide as lead pipes are associated with detrimental health outcomes, especially in developing children. That means replacing the roughly 8,000 lead service lines within the city.
But less clear at the time was that the funding would come in the form of grants and loans, meaning there would be a cost to city taxpayers. And the city will hold a meeting this month to talk about what a lead service line ordinance will entail, which originally spooked residents who thought they would be required to replace their lines and to pay for them.
