Wausau to Look Into a New Lead Service Line Replacement Plan

WASU
Liz Holbrook
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WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Lead service lines in a Central Wisconsin city could soon be replaced at a much faster speed.

Currently, the City of Wausau is replacing lead service lines (LSL) when the City reconstructs streets. The City then offers to homeowners on those streets to replace any lead service lines on their property with the LSL service line replacement grant. With this current process, the City is replacing around 100 lead service lines in a year.

But with a new Lead/Copper Rule, that pace for replacing LSL lines is too slow to replace all the lines in the City in a manageable timeframe. Staff in Wausau’s Public Works Department have been working on a new LSL model that would speed up that process. The beginning work on the new model was presented to the Wausau Water Works Commission at their monthly meeting on Wednesday morning.