Securing and managing funding for lead service line replacement to meet State and Federal requirements

City of Englewood Lead Service Line Replacement Program

Across the United States, cities and their public water systems are tackling the challenge of providing safer drinking water by eliminating lead from their service lines—to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates. The City of Englewood has more than 11,000 service connections and an estimated 40 percent are connected through lead service lines. To address this public health concern, and to comply with the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule, the City adopted a proactive, comprehensive approach to fund the rapid replacement of all lead service lines in their service area. They asked us to help them secure funding to achieve it.

To support inventorying and program management for the Lead Service Line Replacement (LSLR) program, we helped the City secure $19 million for LSLR as part of a larger Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan. For construction, we also worked with the City to secure $40 million in State Revolving Fund dollars to complete the LSLR program within three years. Our relationship with the City’s utility finance team was crucial in teaming with Hazen to manage delivery of the overall LSLR program. Responsible for supporting loan compliance and fund disbursement requests, we’re providing continuous funding compliance services to meet loan and grant requirements.

With these secured loans in place, the City can help safeguard its drinking water system by reducing lead exposure for 57,000 Englewood customers.