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Post-visit from Biden: What’s next for Milwaukee-area efforts to replace lead drinking water pipes?

President Joe Biden speaks at an event at the Milwaukee Department of Public Works in Milwaukee, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, to discuss his administration's progress in replacing lead pipes in Wisconsin and across the country.
Susan Walsh
/
AP
President Joe Biden speaks at an event at the Milwaukee Department of Public Works in Milwaukee, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, to discuss his administration's progress in replacing lead pipes in Wisconsin and across the country.

Wisconsin is getting another $43 million from the federal government to pay for the removal of lead drinking water pipes that connect main pipes in the street to people’s homes, according to President Joe Biden, who announced the funding and a final rule on pipe removal Tuesday in Milwaukee.

Health officials say no level of exposure to lead is safe, especially not prolonged exposure for young children when lead leaches out of pipes, called laterals, that bring drinking water from the street to the kitchen faucet.

Milwaukee resident Shy McElroy says she didn’t realize how serious the issue of lead poisoning was until about 13 years ago, when her son Nathan tested positive for elevated levels of lead in his blood.

“Although my son was one of the lucky ones, meaning he didn’t have to be hospitalized, I still watched him face lifelong learning disabilities and the damaging effects of lead poisoning," McElroy says.

Milwaukee resident Shy McElroy speaks during the Biden event Tuesday at a Milwaukee Department of Public Works facility on N. 35th St.
Chuck Quirmbach
Milwaukee resident Shy McElroy speaks during the Biden event Tuesday at a Milwaukee Department of Public Works facility on N. 35th St.

The World Health Organization says young children may absorb four to five times as much lead as adults from an ingested dose. While lead can enter the body from contaminated dust, soil, food, paint, and other sources, removing old drinking water pipes containing lead has been a priority in Milwaukee and many other communities.

Milwaukee’s effort to remove lead laterals and replace them with copper pipes has especially ramped up over the last eight years and continues today on streets like N. 40th, between Wright and Clarke streets.

Construction equipment used to replace lead drinking water pipes along N. 40th St. in Milwaukee.
Chuck Quirmbach
Construction equipment used to replace lead drinking water pipes along N. 40th St. in Milwaukee.

WUWM watched Tuesday morning as a construction crew member from the Waukesha-based company Five Star Energy Services maneuvered an excavator to pick up a shovelful of gravel, preparing to dump it into holes in the street and sidewalk where the asphalt or concrete had been torn up to remove a lead pipe and install a copper one.

Five Star’s Tristin Klumb talked about the pipe being installed: “So, the line itself, it’s one inch in diameter. But the whole thing—it all depends on where the water main is. It can either be long side or short side. The one we’re in now, that we’re going to be doing today is only about 60 feet. But some, where we’ve shot it out, is around 80 to 90 feet," Klumb explained.

Replacing lead lateral pipes with copper ones typically involves digging two holes in the street.
Chuck Quirmbach
Replacing lead lateral pipes with copper ones typically involves digging two holes in the street.

That much copper pipe isn’t cheap, and neither is paying a crew. But President Joe Biden and mainly Democrats in Congress included billions of dollars in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law a few years ago to help communities cover the costs, often without charging qualifying homeowners a fee.

Biden told about 200 people gathered inside a Milwaukee Department of Public Works garage Tuesday afternoon that in addition to the $200 million Wisconsin has already received, he’s sending another $43 million to the state. Biden says nationally, he’s releasing $2.6 billion, with special attention to certain cities and neighborhoods.

“I’m directing nearly half this funding to go to disadvantaged communities that have borne the brunt of lead pipe poisoning for damn too long,” Biden said, to cheers.

Biden also announced finalization of a federal rule requiring all lead drinking water service pipes to be replaced within 10 years. Given the way the rule is written, that would mean by 2037.

Milwaukee Water Works Superintendent Patrick Pauly says he supports Biden’s announcement but acknowledges some challenges remain.

“The state of Wisconsin is anticipated to receive approximately $370 million in bill funding at this point. That is not enough to replace all the lead service lines in the state, or even in the city of Milwaukee," Pauly explained to reporters.

Pauly says Milwaukee alone still has to replace 65,000 lead laterals, primarily in older neighborhoods on the near north and south sides.

Unions represented at the Biden event included the Service Employees International Union (in purple) and, in orange, LiUna (Laborers International Union of North America.)
Chuck Quirmbach
Unions represented at the Biden event included the Service Employees International Union (in purple) and, in orange, LiUna (Laborers International Union of North America.)

Pauly declines to speculate on what the upcoming change of U.S. president will mean for funding beyond the five-year life of the infrastructure law. He’s also facing another challenge—whether the private contractors (like Five Star) doing almost all of the pipe replacement in the city can find enough workers.

“That is to be seen as well. And I guess that is part of the conversation we’ve been having with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and federal government related to workforce development, and building good union wage-scaling jobs in the trade where there is significant need,” Pauly says.

Biden on Tuesday emphasized the previously announced Milwaukee Workforce Hub, which will expand training and apprenticeships aimed at providing enough workers from the city to eliminate all the lead laterals.

Biden’s visit, of course, comes in the middle of a heated presidential contest between Vice President Kamala Harris (D) and former President Donald Trump (R). A Trump spokesperson did not criticize lead pipe removal but charged that Biden’s visit to Milwaukee is a reminder that "a Harris presidency would bring four years of inflation and high prices."