Two Rivers City Manager Greg Buckley
The City of Two Rivers wants to continue lead water service lateral replacement in 2025.
At the end of last year, 74 public water service laterals and 51 public sewer laterals were replaced.
Thirteen private water service laterals and nine private sewer laterals were also replaced.
City Manager Greg Buckley explained on WOMT’s Be My Guest program that the project entails 300 lead service laterals from 2024 into 2025.
Buckley described, “That’s with a large chunk of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA funding, as well as shared ARPA dollars through Manitowoc County, which we are really grateful for.”
Buckley says the city could do 150 more lead laterals this year.
Two Rivers would be looking at funding for low-interest loan money and grants from the Wisconsin DNR.
The plan would be to replace the laterals on the city’s east side south of 22nd Street and east of the East Twin River.
That would include Harbor, 16th, and Emmet Streets.
Buckley says this is all happening, but it can be challenging for an older city.
“We got about, I think, 1,500 lead laterals left,” he explained. “So, there’s now an EPA mandate to get all the lead out within the next ten years, so that means clunking out about 150 a year for each of the next ten years.”
Two Rivers Public Works Director Matt Heckenlaible told the city council on Monday (January 6th) that the work would cost about $8.4 million.
