The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister joined leaders from the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, as they kicked off the first phase of their Lincoln Lead Water Service Line Replacement work on July 23, 2024.
The event was held at a residence in Lincoln’s Woods Park neighborhood. The home is one of the initial 200 properties within the city to have its water service line replaced at no cost to the property owner.
Lincoln chose these initial 200 homes using EPA recommended criteria, including property records, blood lead levels in children, social vulnerability data, and the risk of lead exposure due to the amount of lead in service lines.
The lead service line replacement program is part of the city’s Lead Safe Lincoln initiative and is funded through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) allocations to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF).
Through a $32.6 million DWSRF loan, Lincoln plans to replace about 2,000 service lines over the next five years.
In May 2024, the EPA announced the latest allotment of BIL funding, over $28 million, to Nebraska for lead service line identification and replacement. Over the past three years, over $85 million in BIL funding for lead service line replacement has been allotted to Nebraska’s DWSRF.
