The City of Woodbury will see an “unprecedented” amount of road construction this summer, as crews lay the groundwork for a massive water treatment facility.

“It’ll most likely be the largest or one of the largest pressurized PFAs treatment facilities in North America,” said Jim Westerman, the city’s assistant public works director.

The work is being done as part of the 3M settlement with the State of Minnesota over toxic “forever chemicals” contaminating the groundwater in the east metro.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAs, are found in common products, such as non-stick cookware and Scotchgard.

Minnesota’s attorney general sued 3M in 2010, alleging the company’s production and disposal of PFAs damaged the drinking water across 14 east metro communities.

PFAS have been called “forever chemicals” because of their inability to break down in the environment, as well as the human body.

Consuming them can result in higher cholesterol, changes to liver function, reduced immune system response, thyroid disease and kidney and testicular cancer.

3M settled with the state in 2018 for $850 million, most of which will be invested in drinking water and natural resource projects in the east metro.

In Woodbury, city officials took 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS out to the site of the new water treatment facility, where construction began in December.

“This facility will be able to produce 32 million gallons a day of treated water for PFAs,” Westerman said. “This is the largest capital improvement project undertaken in the history of the City of Woodbury.”

The new plant will be Woodbury’s first centralized water treatment facility, serving all 20 of the city’s municipal wells.

Currently, nine of the 20 wells are under health advisories for PFAs, with water being filtered at temporary treatment sites.

“When this facility comes online, all of the water from the municipal wells in Woodbury will be treated for PFAs at this site, and then that water will be repressurized and pushed out to the community,” Westerman said. “Treating the water will bring PFAs down to non-detectable levels.”

The plant is expected to be operational in 2028.

“It’s important to note there is also 17 miles of pipeline going into the ground throughout the community to connect the wells together to bring the water to this location,” Westerman said. “There is going to be significant disruption to the community as we put the pipelines in the ground. We ask people for patience on this, understanding that it is a public health infrastructure project to make sure we can provide the highest quality drinking water to the community of Woodbury.”

The work will be done in phases throughout the spring and summer in seven locations across the city.

“We have not seen this level of work in the community’s history,” said city engineer Tony Kutzke. “This project will include 17 miles of pipeline to be installed throughout the community, and it will be very disruptive to the traveling public.”

Kutzke showed 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS three-foot-wide pipes going into the ground near Interlachen Parkway and Leyland Trail, where about a mile of roadway is currently ripped up with crews on site.

“We will get roads opened up as we complete phases of pipe installation. We’ll build those roads back right behind it and continue to move along in our project,” Kutzke said.

City officials expect construction to last about three months in each location.

You can check where current road closures and detours are located on an interactive map the city is regularly updating.

Road work will continue for the next three summers until the new water treatment site is up and running in 2028.

Click here for KSTP’s full PFAs coverage.