Sauk Valley communities land lead service line inventory grants

SPRINGFIELD —A third round of funding will assist 92 additional community water supplies in meeting the requirements outlined in the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act.

Franklin Grove in Lee County and Albany in Whiteside County will each receive $30,000. Savanna, in Carroll County, has been awarded $40,000. Mount Morris and Oregon in Ogle County will receive $40,000. Hillcrest, also in Ogle County, will receive $30,000.

The Lead Service Line Inventory grant program offers grants to local government units ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 to fund the creation of a complete lead service line inventory. Under this grant program, a total of 260 Illinois systems benefited from this funding in calendar year 2023.

The LSLRN Act requires owners and operators of community water supplies in Illinois to submit a complete, final water service line material inventory for the Illinois EPA’s approval no later than April 15, 2024. The final inventory must report the material composition of all service lines within the community water supply’s distribution system, including the number of lead service lines.

“The Illinois EPA is prioritizing this funding to assist communities in the development of complete material inventories of their drinking water distribution systems,” said Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director John J. Kim. “We are encouraged by the number of communities that continue to seek funding to identify lead service lines within the drinking water distribution systems so they can be properly removed.”

Round three of the LSLI Grant Program was funded using Illinois EPA’s “Local Assistance and Other State Program” set-aside of 15% from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Lead Service Line Replacement Grant.

For the third grant funding round, Illinois EPA is funding 92 projects for a total of $3,429,950. In this round, funding was provided up to a maximum of $50,000 per grantee. Illinois EPA announced the first 42 grant recipients in January 2023, and an additional 120 recipients receiving funding were announced in August 2023. Illinois EPA anticipates offering an additional funding opportunity in early 2024.

Grantees may request supplemental funding in the form of a low-interest loan through the Illinois EPA’s Public Water Supply Loan Program in conjunction with funding to replace lead service lines. To inquire about funding through the PWSLP, call 217-782-2027 and ask to speak with the Infrastructure Financial Assistance Section Project manager on call.