Rhode Island lands $38.8M for lead line replacement, well above its usual share

The Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank has been awarded $38,776,000 from the US Environmental Protection Agency's Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) for lead service line replacement in fiscal year 2026, the bank announced on 8 October. The bank says that is 35% more than the state's historical yearly allotment for this work.

Where the extra money came from

Part of the uplift is money other states did not use. The award includes $11,320,000 in reallotted federal funds from fiscal years 2023 and 2024.

"Rhode Island was able to capture $11.3 million in reallotted funds that other states left on the table." William Fazioli, Executive Director, Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank

Across its drinking water and clean water programmes, the bank says it has $108 million in total for federal fiscal year 2026. The money goes to municipalities and public water systems, and the state's Director of Health, Dr Jerome Larkin, highlighted that the replacements come at no cost to property owners.

Providence Water's programme

Providence Water, which serves about 600,000 Rhode Islanders, is already a heavy user of this funding. In March 2026 the Rhode Island regulator authorised the Providence Water Supply Board to borrow up to $26.2 million from the DWSRF through the Infrastructure Bank, to replace both public-side and private-side lead service lines. The same order records that the utility had replaced about 4,000 lead lines to date, with roughly 6,300 known public-side and 22,000 known private-side lead services still identified.

That follows a $26.3 million loan closed in May 2025, of which $12.8 million was grant funding, so this is now a recurring annual programme rather than a one-off.

The bigger picture

Rhode Island passed a law in 2023 requiring affected lead lines to be replaced within ten years, which gives its utilities a firm deadline to work to. Lead line work has also had its own dedicated federal funding stream, which matters now that the wider IIJA supplemental money for the SRFs has lapsed. Rhode Island's reallotment haul suggests that states with projects ready to go can pick up money others leave unspent.