Common Council OKs plan replace underground water laterals; homeowners to pay part of cost

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Common Council on Tuesday, December 13th approved with a 12-3 vote, a plan to begin replacing underground water laterals using public and homeowner funds. It's an extensive project that could take decades to complete -- and homeowners will pay part of the cost.

Under the project, water lateral replacement from under streets and into homes and businesses would begin in 2017 for daycare facilities and some problem areas of the city. All others would be replaced starting in 2018.

"We want to assure that any leaded service lines serving the population that would be drinking that water of a vulnerable age be addressed first and foremost," Alderman Jim Bohl said.

It's an effort to stop the health risks that come along with lead contamination due to aging pipes, and improve the infrastructure.

Aldermen believe there are approximately 68,000 homes in the city that would be impacted by this lateral replacement plan -- all built before 1951. That's a little less than half of the homes in the City of Milwaukee.

The city would pay for the costs associated with replacing the pipe sections on public property.

As part of this approved plan, the city will pay for the underground work leading up to a private property -- and then offer to help homeowners pay for the remaining part of the lateral replacement on that private property -- up to $1,600. The plan would require homeowners to pay the money back over a period of 10 years.

Willie Hart owns a home on Milwaukee's northwest side and said underground pipes and the water supply should be 100% the city's responsibility.

"It's not fair to the homeowners to require that they pay for that. We pay too much money to the city. They should take care of that. It's not fair to the property owners," Hart said.

"The message I have for the residents of our city is that we do have safe drinking water -- and that's important. There's no lead in our mains. We know there's an issue with our aging infrastructure, our lead laterals in particular and for the 70,000 homes that have those lead laterals, it's important that when there's a disruption, in particular, that those lead laterals are replaced. We understand there are going to be families who can't afford this right now. At the same time, there are absentee landlords who would not be doing this if we did not mandate it," Mayor Barrett said.

 

Mayor Tom Barrett released the following statement regarding the Common Council’s vote:

Mayor Barrett's Office offered this additional information to FOX6 News:

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