Overview
- Chicago has about 412,000 confirmed and suspected lead service lines and projects full replacement by 2076, decades after federal expectations.
- Officials disclosed they have sent roughly 75,000 letters and about 120,000 billing inserts, leaving most of the roughly 900,000 required notifications outstanding since a November 2024 deadline.
- The water department says it can process about 3,000 notices per week and expects a 10–12% response rate that would trigger test-kit demand it cannot meet.
- Leaders defended holding off on mass mailings, estimating a $10 million price tag and citing national shortages of lead sampling bottles.
- Finance officials said the city has drawn only about $70–90 million of a $325 million federal loan that expires next year and has spent little of recent local borrowing, as aldermen press for urgency and note a potential $14 billion total price tag.