Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF)

A financing program established by the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to support local water infrastructure projects. Administered by individual states, the DWSRF provides funding through grants and forgivable loans, and financing through loans to help communities meet SDWA water quality standards. The program is sustained through a combination of federal allotments, state matching funds, and repayments of principal and interest from previous loans, creating a “revolving” source of ongoing funding.

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  • Case Study

    • Milwaukee Water Works Lead Pipes – Prioritization Program
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  • Case Study

    • Building Trust Through the Airwaves: How Benton Harbor Used Community Radio to Tackle Lead Pipe Replacement

    The purpose of the Lead Innovation Hub is to empower users to take action by equipping them with the best information, solutions, and resources available to replace lead pipes and improve public health for all.

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    contact@leadinnovationhub.org

    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.