The Wausau Common Council has narrowly rejected a proposed ordinance that would have required property owners to replace water service lines containing lead, signaling continued debate over how the city will eliminate thousands of remaining hazardous pipes from its municipal drinking water system.
During a meeting on Sept. 8, council members voted 5-6 against the measure. The opposing votes were cast by District 3 Alderperson Terry Kilian, District 5 Alderperson Andrew Wiskowski, District 7 Alderperson Matt Hoenecke, District 9 Alderperson Vicki Tierney, District 10 Alderperson Lou Larson, and District 11 Alderperson Bruce Trueblood.
The decision was not an outright end to the proposal, however. Immediately after the vote, Trueblood requested that the ordinance be reconsidered at the council's Sept. 22 meeting. The delay is intended to give municipal staff sufficient time to design a structured payment plan for property owners, which will be evaluated by both the Finance Committee and the Common Council before the measure returns for another vote.
The rejected ordinance was drafted to support a large-scale remediation initiative launched in 2024 in partnership with Community Infrastructure Partners. The broader initiative aims to leverage grants and loans from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to systematically remove an estimated 8,000 lead or galvanized steel water service lines across Wausau. The overarching goal is to achieve full compliance ahead of an anticipated 2037 deadline expected from the federal agency.
Eric Lindman, Wausau’s director of public works and utilities, explained to the council that the proposed ordinance was necessary to establish clear enforcement mechanisms for nonresponsive property owners and clarify private payment obligations.
Substantial progress has already been achieved under the city's outreach efforts. Data from the Equi-flow Lead Free Program indicates that more than 9,740 Wausau households have completed verification of their service line materials, and over 3,140 lines have been replaced since 2024. Nevertheless, Lindman noted that more than 30 property owners have failed to respond to city outreach, with the vast majority of those unresponsive locations being rental properties operated by landlords or management firms.
The council's debate stretched for more than an hour as alderpersons weighed the financial strain on residents against federal expectations. A central concern among several officials was the perceived unfairness of compelling certain property owners to pay for replacements after preceding years of work had provided zero-cost service line replacements to other neighborhoods across the city.
Several council members insisted that they would not support a mandatory replacement ordinance until a viable financial mechanism was established for residents who cannot rely on fully subsidized programs. Expressing concern about imposing requirements without support, Hoenecke emphasized during the meeting that the city must avoid compelling residents to act without first establishing a clear, accessible process that allows them to do so reasonably.
Addressing the financial history of the program, Lindman noted that EPA grants distributed through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have funded approximately $35 million worth of service line replacement work in Wausau for an actual cost of about $15 million since 2024. When funding constraints emerged in 2026 due to fewer available grant and loan allocations, the Common Council utilized general obligation debt to cover the remaining shortfall.
Even with extensive work completed, substantial infrastructure challenges remain. In an Aug. 25 memo to the Finance Committee, Lindman reported that an estimated 4,000 lead or galvanized steel water service lines still exist within the city's water infrastructure. According to a July 13 report presented by Community Infrastructure Partners to a Committee of the Whole, the city oversaw the removal of 605 lines in 2024, 1,534 lines in 2025, and 1,414 lines through July 2026.
The overall financial scope of the remediation remains significant. The average cost to replace an individual water service line is approximately $10,000. By July 2026, the replacement of 3,553 lines had accumulated a total expenditure of $34,211,284, according to project documentation.
Looking forward to the next phase of construction, the city and its contractor partner have submitted a formal request to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for $18.5 million to finance the replacement of 1,310 lines during 2027.
However, city officials anticipate a tighter funding environment for upcoming work. A combination of decreased federal assistance, reduced availability of low-interest loans, the expiration of an initial three-year bid window dating back to 2024, and the location of remaining lines in census tracts that do not qualify for elevated public aid are projected to reduce overall grant support for 2027.
Preliminary estimates from the Department of Natural Resources for 2027 indicate that Wausau could receive roughly $7.9 million in principal forgiveness alongside $10.6 million in low-interest loans. While approximately $4.2 million of that funding will fully cover public-side line replacements, about $6.4 million in loans for private-side work will remain unfunded, leaving affected property owners responsible for an estimated $4,900 each.
Despite the approaching funding hurdles and the ongoing legislative debate, Community Infrastructure Partners projects that continued remediation efforts will reduce the total number of lead-impacted service lines in Wausau to fewer than 2,200 homes by the end of 2027.
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