"Illinois has nearly 1.5 million lead service lines. A new report estimates replacing the unsafe plumbing has the potential to create 90,000 jobs."

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

Now, public health and workforce advocates want to turn the state’s long-overdue pipe 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 so, the analysis calls on state and local officials to fast-track pipe replacements for communities that have suffered from the most lead exposure and to use the projects to build a more diverse local workforce. It also urges the Illinois General Assembly to help plug a multi-billion-dollar budget gap for lead pipe replacements."

Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco reports for a partnership between Inside Climate News, Grist and WBEZ March 23, 2026. [2]