APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Last week, Governor Evers announced $400 million will be given to municipalities across the state to improve drinking water. For some, this means replacing lead pipes in hopes of reducing and ultimately eliminating water contaminants. Appleton is among them.
“We’ve been working for years on improving water quality in the city of Appleton and we’ve really been attacking lead service lines throughout the city over many years,” Appleton Mayor Jake Woodford said. “We’ve made great progress but there’s more work to be done.”
With increased funding, accomplishing that goal just became a little easier.
“We fund a wide variety of projects. Everything from wells to pressure pumps,” Matt Marcum with the Wisconsin DNR said. “This year we have additional funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law. A lot of that additional funding is in the form of principle forgiveness which is like a grant. It’s a part of the loan that you don’t have to repay.”
Marcum said the department’s safe drinking water loan program has existed for decades, but this year has garnered more interest from Wisconsin communities. The additional $402 million will help municipalities like Appleton.
“1.36 million invested in 2024 we anticipate,” Woodford said. “Overall we still have a number of eligible services that need to be replaced, and that’s what this program is going to enable us to do.”
Woodford said the issue is not the man-made forever chemical PFAs, but rather lead service lines. There’s an estimated 167-thousand across the state. Appleton is one of 106 municipalities receiving funding.
“Lead service lines in particular are a public health hazard so there’s a big effort underway to remove as many lead service lines as possible,” Marcum said. “Hopefully all of them eventually.”
In Appleton, the focus is on replacing private lead service lines.
“The average cost to a homeowner to replace a private water service is about 35 hundred dollars,” Woodford said. “It’s a time intensive and expensive process so these funds are going to help continue to take that inventory.”
Municipalities have a 30 day window to dispute the allocations of funds before they’re finalized. Woodford said Appleton does not intend to do so.
For a complete list of municipalities receiving funding, and their project priority score, click here.
