Smith-Wade-El: Over $1.7M in state funding to protect Lancaster City’s public health

Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El July 16, 2025 | 11:56 AM

LANCASTER, July 16 – A staunch advocate to improve the lives of City of Lancaster residents, state Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El, D-Lancaster, was proud to announce that $1,709,338 in Pennvest funding was awarded to the City of Lancaster to replace 108 lead service lines serving the northwest and west-central regions of the city.

The 2,985 feet of 108 service lines to be replaced will help improve the city’s compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule. The lines are in a federally designated disadvantaged and environmental justice community.

“Our health is our most precious gift,” Smith-Wade-El said. “Crumbling infrastructure puts that health at risk, especially through the contamination of the water we drink or cook with. This money will protect Lancastrians’ health by removing lead from our water. A healthy population and a clean environment are the basic requirements for our city’s economic growth. I thank the Shapiro Administration for helping to safeguard Lancaster’s public health through this critical investment.”

Pennvest provides low-interest loans and grants for new construction or for improvements to publicly or privately-owned drinking water, stormwater or sewage treatment facilities, as well as non-point source pollution prevention best management practices. Pennvest also provides low-interest loans to remediate brownfields sites, to individual homeowners for repair or replacement of their malfunctioning on-lot septic system, or for a first-time connection to a public sewer collection system. The Advance Funding Program provides low-interest loans to provide funding for the design and engineering needed to improve water and wastewater management systems.

More information is available here: Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (Pennvest) - PA Department of Community & Economic Development.

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