Can replacing Illinois’ toxic lead pipes lead to a workforce boon?

Illinois is in the midst of a public health crisis. Nearly 1.5 million drinking water pipes (the pipes that carry drinking water to homes and businesses) contain or are suspected of containing lead, a neurotoxin linked to cognitive, reproductive and cardiovascular problems.

Now, public health and workforce advocates want to turn the long-running pipeline replacement backlog into a statewide economic engine, creating up to 90,000 jobs over a decade.

A recent report proposes a plan to replace the state’s staggering inventory of toxic lead pipes and create tens of thousands of jobs. To do this, the analysis calls on state and local officials to accelerate pipe replacement for communities most exposed to lead and use the projects to build a more diverse local workforce. He also urges the Illinois General Assembly, which returned to session this month, to help close a multibillion-dollar budget gap for lead pipe replacement.

“The longer we delay maintaining our water infrastructure, the more expensive it’s going to become, the more we’re going to have to raise water rates to deal with this, and the more people are going to find themselves in the position where they don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water,” said Justin Williams, a senior executive at the Metropolitan Planning Council, one of the policy think tanks that helped develop the plan. “And that’s not a situation we should be in as a state or region.”

Several other regional and national nonprofits, including Current, a water solutions center; Elevate, an organization working on water and energy affordability issues; and HIRE360, a workforce development group, also worked on the analysis.

Illinois has the most lead pipes in the country. The state estimates there are 667,000 known lead pipes and 820,000 suspected lead pipes. Chicago alone accounts for nearly 30 percent of these pipelines.

Replacing these service lines is expensive. In a 2022 report, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency found that replacing a single service line can cost between $4,000 and $13,000 statewide. In Chicago, the price is even higher: city officials have estimated that replacement costs an average of more than $30,000 per line.

State officials have estimated that replacing all known or suspected lead pipes in Illinois could cost between $6 billion and $10 billion. The Biden-era Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, set aside $15 billion over five years to help states replace lead pipes. Illinois is estimated to receive about $1 billion, but given the state’s unique needs, that number “is probably low,” Williams said.

Nationally, the cost of replacing all lead pipes is estimated at more than $55 billion, according to Emily Simonson, senior director of water leadership and innovation at the US Water Alliance. She adds that Illinois alone accounts for 12 percent of that total and the Great Lakes State accounts for nearly half.

The report argues that state lawmakers must approve dedicated, sustained and predictable funding to close the multibillion-dollar shortfall. Without long-term guarantees, replacements will likely remain ineffective and delayed.

“It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation: Unless you know how much money is going to be allocated to this — how many opportunities are going to arise — they’re not going to add additional people to apprenticeship programs,” said Jay Rowell, executive director of HIRE360.

Using workforce projections from the American Water Works Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the report’s authors calculated that federal funds already allocated could generate about 2,000 direct jobs and 9,000 indirect jobs. If legislatures closed the multibillion-dollar funding gap, those numbers could rise significantly to 35,000 direct jobs and 55,000 indirect jobs, or a total of 90,000 jobs over a decade.

“We are drawing attention not only to the problem, but also to some opportunities to attract more candidates to engage in apprenticeships,” Rowell said. “This is a very big problem that requires very thoughtful, state-led solutions. »

A major pillar of the report is the diversification of construction professions. An analysis of Chicago’s workforce found that only 3.8 percent of registered apprentices are women and only 10 percent are black. To address this gap, the report advocates requiring utilities and municipalities to include diversity and equity requirements in project contracts.

The report’s authors say Illinois has the rare opportunity to tackle two challenges at once: tackling its toxic legacy while laying the foundation for a more inclusive economy. The financial and political hurdles remain significant, but advocates say the cost of inaction is even higher.

“We are the envy of the world in terms of access to clean water,” Williams said. “We need to be really thoughtful stewards of this, and that means investing in this area the same way we invest in other infrastructure.” »