After shortchanging the states with the most lead pipes last year, funding was tweaked to get the money to where it was needed most.
When the Environmental Protection Agency handed out money last year to remove dangerous lead pipes, Illinois didn’t get its fair share.
Although Illinois has the second most lead service lines in the nation, it received significantly less funding than California, which has a fraction of the number of lead pipes. With about 730,000, Illinois received just $52.4 million. By comparison, California received $122.5 million to remove about 65,000 lead pipes, according to the EPA.
But the distribution of funds was evened out last week when the EPA distributed more than $6.5 billion in Drinking Water State Revolving Fund dollars. This time, states that previously felt they were being shorted are getting a much larger share of the funding.
ROUTE FIFTY
by Kery Murakami
APR 11, 2023