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About 1 in 10 municipal
water lines are served by

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lead pipes in Wisconsin. Or
according to Wisconsin

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Watch data, more than
145,000 of them lead in

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drinking water poses
serious health risks,

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especially to children and
pregnant women, as no level

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of lead exposure is
considered safe. While

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cities and municipalities
across Wisconsin are

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working to remove lead
service lines ahead of a

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2037 federal deadline, one
city in the midst of the

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work stands out. The City
of Wausau is on track to

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replace its remaining some
3000 lead lines by the end

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of 2028. That's after
already replacing about

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3500, the City Council
Finance Committee just

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voted to pay 100% of the
cost for residents.

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Committee chair Alderman
Michael Martins joins us.

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And thanks very much for
being here.

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>> Oh, thank you so much.
Thank you for inviting me.

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>> So what is the cost, on
average, for residents to

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replace their lead service
lines?

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>> Well, it depends on, you
know, on on the situation

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what the composition of
their soil is. We've been

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averaging about, you know,
with, with the, with the

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current process, about
$6,700 per lead service

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line.
>> And so that's a that's a

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lot of money for any
individual homeowner. Why

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did the Finance Committee
decide to go ahead and

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cover that cost?
>> Well, when we looked at

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the numbers and we saw, you
know, we started lead

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service line replacements
in 2024, and we've been

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very aggressive in moving
forward with this, with

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this program. And since
we've just passed the half

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way point, we felt that we
were we could get as many

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of these lines done as
quickly as we could instead

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of spreading everything out
until that 2037 deadline,

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we would, you know, even
though the upfront cost is

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more, you know, for us for
the next two years, we

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would we could finish the
program by 2028, saving

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potentially up to $37
million. And, you know,

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before the, you know, if we
were to if we were to slow

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our roll.
>> So what is the total

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cost of the project
expected to be when you're

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finished?
>> I think all in in all

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done. It's going to be well
over $57 million. It's and

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and a significant portion
of it. We've been able to,

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you know, recover through
federal and state grants.

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Principal forgiveness loans.
What you know, what we've

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come up with, you know, is,
is as the as the program

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continues, our funding gap,
you know, increases from

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year to year. And that's
where the city ends up

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paying more on these last
these last three years of

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the of the replacement
program.

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>> And isn't it also true
that some of these

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government grants and loans
could be drying up as well?

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>> You know, they're it's
it's part of it is they're

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drying up. And other part
of it is other communities

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are coming online with
their replacement programs.

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So it's the pot is, you
know, not only dwindling,

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but there's more people
looking for a share of the

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of the loans of the
principal forgiveness. You

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know, we've been fortunate
by getting an early start.

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We've been able to capture
a lion's share of that.

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>> So going forward into
the next couple of years,

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as, as you aggressively
push to remove these lead

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lines. Can the city coffers
handle that?

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>> I that remains to be
seen. I think, you know,

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for for at least 2027, I
think we are we should be

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able to, you know, to, to
manage it. What the what

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the funding gap will be in
2028. You know, we're still

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going to have to analyze
our debt ratios are at a

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point where, you know, we
can it's it's it, you know,

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our debt ratios are at the
point where we can, you

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know, we can still manage
that. And I think, you know,

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you know, we do want to
reduce our long term debt,

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but also, you know, keeping
our debt levels, you know,

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in the future at a, at a
manageable pace, you know,

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is, is also part of that.
>> So. Meanwhile, the full

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city council is expected to
vote on paying the full

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cost. Do you expect that to
pass?

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>> You know, it remains to
be seen. I think there's,

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you know, some people that
are concerned about what

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our what our municipal debt
level is. But I think in

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the long term, this whole,
you know, this should win

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out as a as people see the
greater benefits of getting

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the lead out of our water
system and getting this

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program finished up in a
timely manner, you know, so

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that we can move on. And in
the future, you know, be

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more be more aggressive
with other, you know, other

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debt reduction programs. I
mean, right now, we've got

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the ability, you know, to
get these loans at a

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quarter of a percent. So
doing it now saves money

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later. We're probably on
the leader statewide were

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the leaders, you know, with
with Milwaukee and Racine.

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We've been I think we've
been fortunate that our

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previous, you know, mirror,
mirror administration

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really worked hard to
secure this funding and to

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get us, you know, get us
set up with this public

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private partnership that
it's really saving a lot of

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money. And I hope people
see that.

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>> All right. Well, Michael
Martens Alderperson, City

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of Wausau, thanks so much.
>> Okay. Well, thank you so

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much. It's a pleasure to be
here.

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>> Two years ago, we
checked in with the mayor