Muskegon, Michigan is moving into another phase of tearing out the lead pipes that still connect many older homes to the city's water main, a generational public health project driven by lessons learned from Flint and backed by federal infrastructure dollars.
The city is hiring a contractor to carry out the latest round of replacements under DWSRF Project Number 7929-02, funded through Michigan's Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, a low-interest loan and grant program fed by the $15 billion the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law set aside specifically for lead pipe removal. The project carries a "-02" designation, indicating it is part of a multi-phase effort. The contract value has not been publicly disclosed.
The urgency is real. Muskegon is a port city of roughly 38,000 people on Lake Michigan, with a housing stock built largely between 1900 and 1950, the same era when lead service lines were standard. About 27% of residents live in poverty, well above the state average, and the city is about 35% Black. That combination of old pipes and economic vulnerability mirrors the profile of Flint and Benton Harbor, two other majority-Black Michigan cities where lead contamination became public health emergencies.
Source: NationGraph.
Michigan responded to Flint's crisis by adopting the nation's strictest lead pipe rules in 2018, requiring water utilities to replace every lead service line in the state by roughly 2041, at the utility's expense rather than the homeowner's. That mandate set Muskegon and dozens of similar cities on a long replacement schedule. The federal Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, finalized by the EPA in late 2024, have since tightened the national deadline to 10 years for most water systems.
Muskegon is one of several Michigan cities racing through this work with federal help. Bay City and Saginaw have launched similar DWSRF-funded replacement programs in recent years.
Contractor selection will follow the close of the bidding period, after which the city will be able to schedule and announce when work begins in specific neighborhoods.
