Wausau Mayor Excited to Kick Off City's Replacement of Lead Service Lines

Monday, November 13th, 2023 -- 9:10 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg was excited to kick off the city's public-private partnership aimed at replacing the nearly eight thousand lead service lines still in use city-wide, an effort that will not cost residents a dime thanks to federal infrastructure dollars, according to Mike Leischner with WSAU.

"This is the first time in history that we've been able to use those funds on the private side. Usually, it's just the public side. But what we understand it to say is that we can't directly charge a homeowner if we're going to do this."

She says all houses that get the new copper pipes will get a small filter to take care of any remnants for a year. "The filter will be good for a whole year and then once that year is up, we just bypass it because the water is great."

She says she's proud that Wausau will be a test case for the national effort to remove all lead service lines still in use, something that started last February when she attended a panel discussion at the White House.

"All winter and summer we've been thinking through this. How do we make this happen? And I guess part of that is my personality of not wanting to let go if I don't have to. So, that's what we're doing here. We're replacing them all."

Rosenberg made her comments last Thursday following a ceremony to mark the start of the effort at a west-side home, where the owners got copper pipes installed after more than 45 years with lead service lines.

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