All Illinois owners and operators of community water supplies will have to replace lead and galvanized water service lines, a state-mandated process that will begin in 2027.
Oak Park has at least 7,245 of these lines. It could cost around $144 million to replace them. The village has no choice but to figure out how to pay for it, through limited grant options available or through taxpayer dollars. Or both.
Illinois has mandated that owners and operators of community water must replace lead and galvanized lines at a rate of 5% per year for 20 years. That means Oak Park will have to replace at least 363 lead or galvanized lines annually, starting in 2027, according to village officials. The reason is that lead is hazardous to health.
“[The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has stated that there is no safe exposure to lead,” said Kaitlin Wright from Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers, the village’s consultants.
“Illinois has the highest burden of lead service lines across the country,” she noted.
To accomplish this state-mandated goal, Oak Park is drafting a lead water service line replacement plan due on April 15, 2027, and deciding how to pay for the expensive work ahead. The village has 12,427 water service lines and must identify the material of each.
The average cost for a full-line replacement is $12,000 to $15,000. To replace the 7,245 lead and galvanized lines already identified in Oak Park, it would cost about $97.8 million. But factoring in expected inflation and engineering work, Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers estimate it will cost closer to $144 million.
Replacement plan
Trustee Susan Buchanan said the lead lines are the result of the lead service industry and plumbers’ unions.
“Residents shouldn’t have to pay anything, we should go after the culprits,” she said. “It’s completely unfair to leave this up to the municipalities or the taxpayers to pay for it.”
If any portion of a water service line is lead, the entire line from water main to water meter is considered lead, Wright explained. There’s been replacement efforts since the 1970’s, but the new required rate of replacement starts in 2027.
Village officials also pointed out that lead water service lines are often found in older neighborhoods, potentially disproportionately affecting low-income communities. Replacing lead lines can improve health, especially for children and pregnant women, who are at a higher risk to exposure.
The village has drafted its first version of the lead service line replacement plan and will revise it and ask for community input before the plan is due in spring 2027. The village does not have to be responsible for the entire replacement, either. Property owners could be required to share that responsibility for the portion of the line on their land.
In the meantime, the village offers a lead water service line replacement program for households who don’t exceed a certain income threshold. The village replaces the public side for free if the property owner replaces their side. The replacement includes swapping an existing lead or galvanized steel water pipe for a one-inch copper pipe.
“If we really want to have an effect on public health in the state, this is what should be happening with climate change mitigation, not taking the lead out of water,” Buchanan said, emphasizing that lead in paint or gas has been a bigger concern, anyway.
Funding options
State and federal funding for lead or galvanized line replacement are inconsistent, village officials said. And most require the community applying to be “disadvantaged” based on the median household income. In Oak Park, the median household income is $103,264.
Oak Park’s best bet is likely the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency public water supply loan program. This would be a 0% loan for 30 years, and the village could request up to five years of funding. But it’s competitive, Wright said. And Oak Park will have to create a separate project plan to show how officials plan to pay back the loan.
If state and federal funding isn’t enough or isn’t an option, the village could use local revenue, issue bonds or implement new levies to cover the cost. The village board could also require property owners to share the cost burden.
“What we probably need to do is plan for worst-case scenario and then if there are opportunities that come up and present themselves, we would obviously compete for them,” said Rob Sproule, Oak Park’s public works director. “And then they would reduce the long-term burden that the community would face financially.”
Areas like Elmwood Park, Forest Park and Schiller Park are paying for the entire replacement. In Lombard, the government pays for the public side and requires private property owners to pay 75% of the replacement for their side, up to $5,000. In River Forest, the government pays 100% of the public side up to $5,000 and pays 50% of the private side up to $2,500.
“This is a large, unfunded mandate,” Trustee Brian Straw said. “If the village takes on 100% of it and then just spreads it across all of our residents whether through property taxes or through the water bills, then we’re not necessarily balancing the burden.”
The village board will also need to determine if they want to implement different rates for commercial versus residential properties.
Water service line replacements, along with normal water and sewer replacements, will strain the village’s water and sewer fund, Oak Park officials pointed out. To make up for it, the village board might have to increase the water rate, like some nearby communities have.
A water rate study in 2025 will determine if that’s necessary for 2026 to 2030. Gradual increases would avoid a single large increase that could “shock customers,” village officials pointed out. In 2025, village staff are still recommending a water rate increase, to be determined by the end of the year as trustees continue finalizing next year’s budget.