MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today signed Senate Bill (SB) 56, expanding eligibility for the state’s Safe Drinking Water Loan Program to include principal loan forgiveness for private utility companies that replace lead service lines. Prior to Act 8, Wisconsin state statutes outlined that a privately owned water utility was prohibited from receiving principal loan forgiveness from the state’s Safe Drinking Water Loan Program.
“There is no level of lead that is safe, and we have a responsibility to ensure that communities have every resource at their disposal to meet our shared obligations to replace all lead service lines for kids, families, and communities across the state and get lead out of our water for good,” said Gov. Evers. “There were many parties that had to come together to ensure this measure meets the needs and best interests of residents in Superior, and I am glad to see a plan move forward that does just that.”
In 2024, former President Joe Biden and the Biden administration issued a rule requiring drinking water systems across the U.S. to identify and replace lead service lines within the next decade and allocated hundreds of millions of dollars of additional funding to Wisconsin to assist municipalities in expediting the removal and replacement of lead service lines through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Currently, the city of Superior is the only municipality in Wisconsin that is served by a privately owned water utility, Superior Water, Light & Power (SWL&P), and until now has not been able to access these financial benefits, which are intended to defray lead service line replacement costs.
Gov. Evers’ action comes as the Superior City Council voted on Mon., June 30, 2025, to enter a cooperative agreement with SWL&P for the replacement of lead service lines. The cooperative agreement outlines SWL&P’s responsibility for project costs and obligations to pursue federal funding, creating guidelines to ensure that federal funds are utilized to benefit the public and lower the cost of lead service line replacement for residents of Superior.
“As customers of the only private water utility in Wisconsin, residents of Superior lack many the basic protections and transparency found in public water systems around the state,” said Superior Mayor Jim Paine. “I’m grateful that Rep. Angela Stroud and Governor Tony Evers stood up for Superior and helped us negotiate a deal with Superior, Water, Light, and Power to allow local government oversight and a fair bidding process. No homeowner or renter should have to drink from lead pipes, and they shouldn’t have to pay to replace them. I look forward to working with SWLP to replacing every lead pipe in the city without passing on any costs to property owners.”
Gov. Evers maintains that replacing lead service lines and ensuring Wisconsinites have access to clean and safe water is essential. According to a 2023 report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum, more than 37,000 lead service lines have been replaced or turned off since 2018, which is more lines replaced or turned off in just five years than in the previous two decades. The report further states that while “this trend represents massive progress from previous decades, these service lines still lurk underground in scores of communities across the state,” underscoring the urgent need to address this issue, most especially in spaces that care for Wisconsin’s youth and kids, such as schools, daycares, and more. At least 134,000 households in Wisconsin are still served by lead service lines, and local communities need support from the state to remove and replace these lead service lines.
Gov. Evers has made efforts to replace lead service lines across the state a top priority. Earlier this year, Gov. Evers announced the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) finalized a new rule, making permanent an emergency rule that the governor approved in January, to combat lead poisoning statewide by lowering the lead poisoning threshold to 3.5 µg/dL. By lowering the lead poisoning threshold, more kids and families will be eligible for lead poisoning and intervention resources, including education programming, screening, care coordination or follow up services for kids not covered by a third-party payer, and other activities related to poisoning or exposure.
Additionally, the governor's 2025-27 Biennial Budget proposal included an investment of more than $300 million to help get lead out of Wisconsinites’ pipes, bubblers, schools, homes, and child care centers for good. Unfortunately, Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature gutted the governor’s efforts to clean up lead, PFAS, and other harmful contaminants statewide and rejected hundreds of millions of dollars in investments to ensure kids, families, and farmers have access to safe and clean drinking water.
Senate Bill 56, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 8:
- Expands the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program to allow principal forgiveness to a private owner of a community water system if the loans are for lead service line replacement.
Last Update: Jul 01, 2025 11:25 am CDT
