Private water utility in Superior, Wis., creates snag for lead pipe replacement plans

According to Wisconsin Public Radio, the city of Superior, Wisconsin has the state’s only privately-owned water system, which has prevented it from accessing federal funds allocated to replace lead water pipes.

Former President Biden pledged $1 billion for lead pipe replacement funding across the state during a visit last year, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.

There’s just one problem. Superior can’t access the federal loan forgiveness that helps financially strapped communities upgrade water systems. That’s because Superior is the only community in Wisconsin with a privately owned water utility rather than a public one.

Congress allocated $15 billion to help communities remove lead pipes when it passed the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021. The federal money bolstered state loan programs that provide financial aid to water systems for ensuring safe drinking water. Nearly half the funds must be provided to disadvantaged communities as grants or forgivable loans, which means a portion of the loan doesn’t have to be paid back.

Superior’s residents are eligible for loan forgiveness because of higher poverty and county unemployment rates, and they make less than the statewide median household income. But state law bars privately owned water systems from receiving loan forgiveness – a regulation that today applies only to Superior.

State Republican lawmakers and city officials want Superior residents to benefit from the federal money, but they’re at odds over how to make that happen. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of lead lines are still in Wisconsin.

 

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