Milwaukee’s Lead Pipe Program Boosts Local Jobs & Apprenticeships

Milwaukee Water Works requires that 40% of lead pipe replacement work go to RPP participants, with larger contracts prioritizing those in high-poverty areas.

Milwaukee Water Works’ lead service line replacement contracts include provisions requiring 40% of all hours worked to be performed by Resident Preference Program (RPP) participants and the use of apprentices. Contracts greater than $500,000 require a percentage of hours to be performed by apprentices and RPP participants who reside in high-poverty areas.

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Milwaukee is one of the few cities in the country with a prioritization plan to ensure neighborhoods likely to suffer the most severe impacts from lead poisoning get their pipes replaced first. In consultation with a community-based group, Coalition for Lead Emergency (COLE), and following a public engagement process, Milwaukee included in an ordinance three indicators to prioritize where LSLs will be removed first:

  1. The area deprivation index (ADI), which is a compilation of social determinants of health
  2. The percentage of children found to have elevated lead levels in their blood when tested for lead poisoning
  3. The density of lead service lines in the neighborhood.

Read more here.