WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Wausau’s Water Works Commission has voted to award consulting firm Clark Dietz a contract to map out the city’s lead service line replacement program over the next few months.
The plan will map out how the utility will remove all remaining lead water lines in the city, and is required by the EPA to meet new lead and copper rules which will go into effect on December 16th.
To meet the compliance deadline for those rules, the city would need to have a plan developed and approved by October of 2024 along with the completion of a corrosion control study.
Commissioners did remove a $20,000 item from the proposal which would have involved doing a thorough inventory of all lead lines in the city. The utility already has an idea of which ones contain lead and which don’t, but there are some listed as unknown. That can be added back at a later time if needed.
It will still be several months before any sort of proposed plan is brought forward to the Commission, although a plan for lead service line replacement does need to be in place and approved by the Department of Natural Resources before 2023 to take advantage of current funding options.
RELATED: Wausau Water Works Introduces Draft Lead Service Line Replacement Ordinance
Last week the Water Works Commission considered the first draft of a potential lead service line replacement ordinance. City leaders have also discussed the possibility of using American Recovery Act funds to replace lead water pipes.
