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Quote/Term of the Week

“We’re paying through the nose right now for work we’re not even doing, or can’t explain… It should make us all very nervous as stewards of government that you have so many open lines of credit unused with work unfulfilled …”

— Ald. Raymond Lopez (25th Ward), questioning a Department of Water Management official on the lack of action around replacing the city’s lead pipes, despite receiving funding to do so.

[City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy, Sept. 22, 2025]

City of lead

Approximately 900,000 Chicago renters, landlords and homeowners whose homes were built before 1986  are at risk of having lead-contaminated  drinking water — but city leaders have only notified seven percent of those Chicagoans about  this public health danger.

This daily risk of lead exposure comes from the city’s previously widespread  practice of using the toxic material for the underground pipes that connect buildings to the city’s water supply.

Chicago has the most lead service lines in the country — around 412,000 out of 491,000 total lines — and city officials don’t plan to finish replacing them all until 2076, nearly 100 years after a national ban outlawed lead pipes in 1986.

Last week, the Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy held a hearing to learn more about why the city’s water department has been slow to tell people about  the danger of the lead service lines supplying water to their homes. Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) convened the hearing. 

Patrick Schwer, director of water quality for the water department, said full compliance with federal and state law would require the department to send 900,000 individual letters, spending millions in administrative and postage fees. He claimed there aren’t enough lead testing kits nationwide to satisfy a citywide demand and spending $10 million to notify residents via mail, when most of those will end up in the trash, seemed like a significant waste of resources that could be better spent on replacing lead pipes.

But alders blasted Schwer for his responses and pressed for answers, pointing out the city hasn’t spent the majority of the money it already has to replace lead service lines. Since 2023, the city has spent $70-$90 million of a nearly $325 federal loan for lead service line replacements which expires in 2026. Officials also have not spent a significant chunk of the money the city has borrowed for the work, leaving around $320 million in loans in the tills.

“It appears we’ve been wasting time, energy and money to do a whole lot of nothing here in the city of Chicago as it relates to lead service line replacement,” said Ald. Raymond Lopez (25th Ward).

While lead service lines exist in all corners of the city, they are most prevalent in majority Black and Latino neighborhoods on the South and West sides of Chicago, according to findings from WBEZ, Inside Climate News and Grist.

Experts say there is no safe amount of lead exposure, especially for children under six and pregnant people. It’s been linked to developmental delays and brain damage, and has the ability to impact almost every organ and system in the body. 

What you can do:

Catch up on the headlines:

  • Lead pipes are everywhere in Chicago. Here’s how to protect yourself. | City Bureau

  • Millions in loans to replace lead pipes pumping water into Chicago homes remain unspent | WBEZ, Inside Climate News, Grist

  • How we mapped Chicago’s lead service lines and what we learned | WBEZ, Inside Climate News, Grist

  • Lead pipe problem worst in Chicago’s majority Black and Latino neighborhoods | WBEZ, Inside Climate News, Grist

  • Living with Lead | City Bureau

Find out if your home has lead pipes. You can search your address with this tool. | Inside Climate News, Grist, WBEZ

Test for lead in your drinking water by doing either of the following:

  • Request a free test kit online or call 311. Follow the instructions and schedule a time for a city representative to come pick it up. 

  • Request a free water quality lead inspection by a trained technician from the Chicago Department of Water Management via 311. You should avoid using water six hours before the appointment, and you must be present for the scheduled inspection.

A version of this story was first published in the October 1, 2025 issue of the Newswire, an email newsletter that is your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what we can do to make our city great. You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here.

Have thoughts on what you'd like to see in this feature? Email Civic Editor Dawn Rhodes at dawn@citybureau.org.