Lead and Water

Lead-Safe Water Guide



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# of Lead Service Lines replaced in 2020 = 448

# of Lead Service Lines replaced in 2019 = 1,002

# of Lead Service Lines replaced in 2018 = 933

# of Lead Service Lines replaced in 2017 = 622

Total 2017 - 2019 = 2,557

Milwaukee's Program to Replace Lead Service Lines

There is no safe level of lead in the body. Lead can be unsafe when it is swallowed with food or water, or breathed in. Lead can affect learning, mental health, and increase the risk of diseases later in life. Lead is especially dangerous to very young children when it is swallowed or breathed in. Lead has been used to make many products including paint, pipes and plumbing materials, ceramics and cosmetics.

Milwaukee’s drinking water contains no lead when it leaves our treatment plants. But lead is often present in water because lead can dissolve into the water as it sits in lead services lines that connect your house to the water main in the street. Lead also may be present in interior plumbing and fixtures. In the 1900s, lead was cheap, easy to work with and a readily available material to use for services lines and plumbing.

Milwaukee Code of Ordinances § 225-22.5 requires replacement of the lead service line with copper from the water main to the curb stop (city-owned) and from the curb stop to the meter (customer-owned) when:



(1) a leak or failure is found on either the customer-owned section or the city-owned section of the lead service line or



(2) when the city-owned section is replaced for any reason. This includes:

• planned replacement of a water main that is connected to lead service lines

• replacement of a lead service line serving a child care

• should a lead service line be severed or damaged by a contractor during a DPW street reconstruction or sewer main replacement project, DPW will notify MWW and MWW will coordinate with the property owner to replace both the customer-owned and city-owned sections of the lead service line with copper.



3) when a property owner chooses to replace their customer-owned section of lead service line when it is NOT required, the city must replace its city-owned section of lead service line.

Who pays for the Lead Service Line Replacement when replacement is required by the city?

A cost-share is available for properties with 1-4 dwelling units if they choose to use the city contractor to do the work. Currently, owners pay only $1,754.00. The city pays the rest. The owner can pay their $1,754.00 share as a special assessment over 10 years.

Properties with 5 or more dwelling units are typically investment properties operated for a profit and better able to bear the costs of service line replacement than residential properties containing 1-4 dwelling units. If the property owner chooses to use the city’s contractor to replace the owner’s section of lead service line, the owner may repay the city for the full cost of the replacement as a special assessment over 10 years.



Replacement of the city-owned sections of lead service lines are paid by water utility rate revenue because the section is utility property.

Owner-Initiated

For all properties, if an owner decides to replace a lead service line when it is NOT required, the owner must hire a licensed contractor, pay 100% of the cost, and is not eligible for a special assessment or cost-share.



You may be elegible to use a loan from the STRONG Homes Loan Program to help pay for your lead service line replacement. The program offers loans of up to $20,000 to owner occupants of 1-4 family properties in Milwaukee. STRONG Homes Loan

Sources of lead may be present in internal plumbing. Property owners may want to hire a licensed plumber to replace that plumbing.

We provide instructions for flushing plumbing and a voucher for a filter pitcher and replacement cartridges to the customer(s) at a property. The filter is to be used for drinking and cooking water during and up to 30 days after the project is completed in the following construction projects in which a lead service line will not be replaced:

A planned or emergency water shut-off affects a property with a lead service line.

A property with a lead service line is within the vicinity of a water main replacement, but is not directly connected to the section of main being replaced.

A Department of Public Works sewer replacement or street reconstruction is proximate to a property with a lead service line.



Reduce the risk of exposure to lead in drinking water from lead service lines and lead interior plumbing and fixtures. If you have:

Children under 6, especially bottle-fed infants

Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant (ages 15-45)

Women who are breastfeeding

We advise you to drink and cook only with tap water filtered with an NSF 53 certified filter. Maintain the filter properly and regularly change the cartridge. City of Milwaukee residents may be eligible for free filters from the Milwaukee Health Department. Call the lead hotline at (414) 286-2165.

If you are not using a filter, drink and cook only with cold water that has been well-flushed for at least three minutes to reduce your risk of lead exposure.

Recommendations for all who have a lead service line:

Drink and cook only with water from the cold water tap.

Run your water until it is cold before drinking and cooking with it.

Regularly unscrew and rinse the screen, or aerator, on the end of each faucet.

Flush household plumbing at the end of each work day during construction and when the project is completed for water main replacement, street and sewer reconstruction, and plumbing work. Find instructions here

Replace your lead service line and plumbing with copper.

Milwaukee water is and has been in compliance with EPA rules for lead since 1996.

In 1991, the US EPA introduced the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) to regulate lead and copper in drinking water. In compliance with this rule, and under the direction of the EPA and Wisconsin DNR, Milwaukee Water Works implemented corrosion control in 1996 to reduce lead and copper in tap water. Optimized corrosion control is achieved by adding orthophosphate, a common food addditive approved by the FDA, which coats the pipes and internal plumbing fixtures and significantly reduces lead and copper from dissolving into tap water.

Since corrosion control began in Milwaukee, lead levels have decreased by more than 50%. This graph shows the 90th percentile and median lead levels from Milwaukee EPA Lead and Copper Rule compliance sampling beginning in 1993. You can see how lead levels dropped after corrosion control began.

Lead-Safe Water Guide



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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Corrosion control prevents lead from dissolving from lead service lines and lead plumbing into the water​​​​​​

Water filters

Nutrition and health

Additional information