Public Works Committee hears Milwaukee Water Works update, sets private-side average at $3,999 for lead service-line replacements

The Public Works Committee on March 20 heard a semiannual report from Milwaukee Water Works on its lead service-line replacement program and voted to set the average private-side replacement cost at $3,999 for 2025.

Committee Chair Alderman Jose G. Bauman convened the discussion and Patrick Pauley, Milwaukee Water Works superintendent, and Michelle Natarajan, water quality manager, presented program progress, testing results and financing details. Alderman Lamont Westmoreland moved to recommend adoption of the substitute resolution that establishes the annual average private-side amount; the motion was adopted without objection.

The update described the utility’s inventory work, testing practices and the program’s scale-up. Pauley said the utility submitted a comprehensive service-line inventory to the Wisconsin DNR last year as required under recent Lead and Copper Rule revisions and has posted the inventory on its website. He told the committee the 2025 budget plans for about 3,500 total replacements, of which roughly 2,300 are in the prioritization program administered by the city’s owner-representative. He also said replacements have accelerated: “we surpassed 9,000 services as of the end of last year,” and the utility expected to reach 10,000 replacements in early May 2025.

Pauley reported that contractor experience and higher volumes have reduced per-service costs; "the cost for a total replacement 5 year average is now 8,441," he said. The committee adopted the required annual figure for the private-side maximum payment by property owners: $3,999 for 2025. Pauley said the ordinance now requires the property owner to be charged the lesser of the actual private-side contractor cost or the published annual average.

On testing and water quality, Natarajan described the three-bottle sampling protocol used after service-line replacements (stagnant-home sample, a sample intended to represent service-line water, and a sample…