OHIO, USA — Editor's note: the above video is from October 2021.
In 2022, Ohio and Michigan will get nearly half a billion dollars combined to help shore up and improve the states’ water infrastructure.
The money comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act recently signed into law by President Biden.
The funding is primarily earmarked to help improve water quality in communities through projects and programs that reduce and eliminate lead and chemicals from drinking water.
Nearly $242 million is being set aside for Ohio communities and $213 million will go to Michigan.
The money is part of over $50 billion set aside by the bill for water infrastructure projects nationwide.
At this time, it’s unclear how much will be allocated to individual communities.
In October, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz laid out a plan to spend $10 million of the $181 million allocated to the city by the federal COVID-19 relief funding to replace about 3,000 private lead service lines in the city.
Council signed off on the mayor’s plan in late December.
WTOL 11 reached out to the mayor’s office about how the new federal dollars might play into their existing plans to remove lead water lines. This was their response:
“We believe the price tag to eliminate lead in our water system is much larger than the dollars allocated in the Build Back Better plan. We will take full advantage of what is available through that funding but we believe utilizing the Toledo Recovery plan dollars to eliminate lead lines on homeowners private property, at no cost to property owners, is still the best option. The Build Back Better plan could assist in accelerating the elimination of lead in the public lines which could potentially reduce the amount needed for the lead program in the Toledo Recovery Plan. However, the majority of that budget is allocated to private lines.”
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