EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says there are more than 200 thousand lead pipes across the state of Wisconsin.  The city of Eau Claire has a program that’s helping roughly 900 private water service lines get their lead pipes replaced.

The city of Eau Claire has been working with the DNR since 2017 to get funding to remove lead pipes from private property.  They have received 800 thousand dollars since then. Now they’re applying for more to help keep this program rolling.

Property owners who may have lead pipes fill out an application with the city. If they qualify, the city reimburses the cost of replacement up to 2 thousand dollars. Lane Berg is the Utilities Manager for the city. He hopes people will use this resource.

Berg said, “Now is a good thing to do because they’ve probably outlived their life expectancy already, so we encourage people to take advantage of the program because we have money to help them with this replacement at this time. In the future, who knows? We may not have the money for that.”

The DNR is currently accepting public comments on the city of Eau Claire’s proposal for additional funding for this program.