Woodbury says permanent water treatment plant will be online by 2028; most of $300M cost covered by 3M settlement

City water project lead Mary Van Milligan told attendees that construction on Woodbury’s permanent water treatment plant is underway and the facility is expected to be online in summer 2028.

Van Milligan said temporary treatment currently serves nine wells and that the city has already installed more than 61,000 feet of piping to connect the system to the new plant. “While this project is a $300 million project, it costs a lot of money to get 17 miles of pipe and water treatment in the ground,” she said.

She said almost all of the cost is being covered by the 3M settlement in Minnesota (the state’s settlement addressing PFAS), with less than $20 million funded from water rates and about $3.5 million of federal support. Van Milligan said the plant structure is about 25% complete, mostly subgrade concrete and rebar, and pointed to continued construction impacts this coming summer with detours on Valley Creek and Bailey roads.

Van Milligan urged patience as crews complete the extensive underground work and pointed residents to the project’s weekly updates on the city website and a dedicated information line. Engineering director Chris Hartzell and project lead Jim Westerman were available at the meeting for questions about construction sequencing and neighborhood impacts.