Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – CWLP is trying to “get the lead out.”

“We were early adopters of a lead service line replacement project here at the City of Springfield,” City Water, Light, and Power water division manager Todd LaFountain told the city council June 24. “We started in 2019, so this was before almost any water utilities around the state or nation really envisioned replacing lead service lines. To date we have replaced about 1,000 lead service lines at a cost of about $12 million.”

LaFountain said about a quarter of the lines now are lead, and the city has not installed a new lead water line in almost 100 years.

Meanwhile, every few years CWLP hires out for an evaluation. Chief utility engineer Doug Brown says it’s an “integrated resource plan:” “We recently applied for a $200,000 grant to cover part of the IRP costs,” Brown told aldermen the same night. “We’re also researching the technologies that go into the IRP, as well as gathering costs that go into the IRP. The next step is to then develop the (request for proposals) to select the firm to actually perform the IRP process.”