Milwaukee Water Works: Lead service line construction season begins

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Water Works marked the start of the 2026 lead service line replacement construction season on Wednesday, April 22. 

Lead service line construction season

What we know:

City of Milwaukee officials highlighted ongoing work across the city and what residents can expect in the weeks ahead. 

"Our work continues with the goal of replacing about 5,000 lead service lines this year alone," said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson. "It's a core priority for my administration."

Officials noted that the city has never replaced 5,000 lead service lines in a single year.

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"Our goal is to continue to replace 5,000 lead service lines for the rest of our time, all the way through 2037. That, in part, is part of our broader goal is to replace all 65,000 lead service lines that remain in the city today," said Milwaukee DPW Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke. "This effort, depends on strong collaboration. It brings together contractors, as you see here today, city, state and federal partners to complete this work."

"This year, there are 23 neighborhoods that have been selected; 14 on the, basically the near north side. You're standing in one of them right now. Nine on the near south side. So each neighborhood constitutes about 300 to 400 service lines," said Milwaukee Water Works Superintendent Patrick Pauly. 

Pauly noted there have been challenges gaining consent from property owners through the program. 

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"But we try to stress that once you're included in the replacement program, it's not optional. We need to replace the service lines. The EPA requires the service lines to be replaced. So we do eventually gain consent from property owners," Pauly said.