By Andrew Tellijohn

Woodbury’s population has grown over the last quarter century from about 20,000 in 1990 to 80,000 now, and the eastern suburb along Interstate 94 is tracking to eventually hit 100,000.

That fast-growing population and current challenges with the city’s wells tasked Woodbury’s leadership with making sure its water is clean and available to existing and new residents as that expansion continues. The water efficiency efforts, city officials say, enable the city to meet that growing demand for water while a permanent water treatment plant is under construction.

Currently, nine of the city’s 20 wells are being treated for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) removal at a temporary water treatment plant and additional treatment facilities at three other well sites.

These water efficiency efforts help ensure the availability of clean water as the longer-term solution takes shape.

As part of the effort, the city’s public works, environmental, engineering, and planning divisions teamed up to research water-related best practices in cities around the country and how they could be applied in Woodbury.

“Being careful and concerned about our water and our environment and the sustainability of our natural resources is really vital to our community,” said Woodbury Mayor Anne Burt. “Water especially, as we continue to grow, add more housing, add more businesses, we need to make sure we’re going to have water for our current generation and for generations to come.”

The result of that collaborative effort is the Woodbury Water Wise Implementation Plan, which took city research and community suggestions into account in recommending eight different programs either underway or in planning aimed at water preservation.

Heidi Quinn, environmental resources technician at the city, said the work started before she arrived three years ago, but she’s proud to be a part of the effort.

“A coalition of city leaders in the east metro area recognized this was going to be a challenge moving forward,” she said. “As a growing community we needed to be efficient with our water resource, and so the initial initiative came from the leadership level.”

Woodbury’s water conservation efforts earned it the 2024 League of Minnesota Cities Sustainable City Award.

Program details

The Water Wise Implementation Plan includes eight key programs aimed at promoting water efficiency across residential, commercial, and community landscapes. These programs are designed to adapt as demand and resources allow. Current and future initiatives include:

• Continuation of the Residential Smart Irrigation Controller Program, which provides a low-cost opportunity for residents to upgrade their systems with smart technology.
• Continuation of the Commercial and HOA Cost Share Program, which provides subsidies for irrigation efficiency upgrades.
• Creation of a Pressure Regulated Sprinkler Head Program to encourage upgrades to water-saving components.
• Creation of a Low Water Use Landscaping Program to support low-maintenance, water-efficient landscapes.
• Creation of a Lawn Dormancy Education Program to inform residents about letting lawns go dormant in the summer to save water.
• Continuation of the High Efficiency Toilet Rebate Program, which incentivizes replacing older toilets with water-efficient models.
• Creation of a Water Softener Optimization Program that will offer rebates to encourage the upgrade or optimization of water softeners.
• Continuation of the use of stormwater ponds for irrigation when feasible as part of new development projects.

Together, these initiatives aim to reduce water consumption and promote sustainable water management practices.

City leadership, community feedback

The components of the program actually started coming together nearly eight years ago, with a focus on water efficiency ideas going back even a decade earlier. The Smart Residential Irrigation Controller Program first piloted in 2016.

“They were really looking at irrigation policies, education, looking at our rate analysis,” Quinn said. “It started there, and with that we focused on how we can do more with what we have while still meeting the needs of the community.”

Now, as part of this program, several of the eight initiatives are underway. The city has helped distribute more than 4,000 of the smart irrigation controllers, which are estimated to save 30,000 gallons of water per user annually, for a total savings to the city of approximately 123 million gallons a year, she said. Toilet replacements, she adds, save an estimated 13,000 gallons annually per toilet.

The toilet replacement program was funded through a grant from the Metropolitan Council, which is supported by the Clean Water Fund. Those funds helped support the replacement of just under 700 residential toilets, saving an estimated 9 million gallons of water annually. The program reopened in September 2024.

“When we created this, it was a 10-year plan,” Quinn said. “We plan to stagger implementation to account for time and resources.”

Communicating the need

There are several entities involved, both city-wide and beyond. The programs are paid for out of the public works department’s budgets, but implementation often requires supplemental funding from outside partners, such as the Metropolitan Council, local watershed districts and, more recently, the state’s Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.

As with any ask of the community, not everyone jumped on board right away, said Burt. For example, the city, at the behest of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, imposed limited water allowances during the drought a couple summers ago.

The city quickly created a communication plan to get the word out about two-day-a-week watering that included a lot of data, and the public works team created a plan that divided the city into four quadrants for scheduled watering days. Everybody got a weekday and a weekend day to water their lawns and then commercial properties and homeowners’ associations were each given single days when they could water.

“We have a community that is concerned about the environment; environmental stewardship is important,” Burt said. “So, many were willing to go along with it. Nobody likes change, but we gave it time and, really, in the end, it was embraced by most people.”

Efforts go beyond water

Woodbury, Burt reiterated, has a history of strong community support for its decades-long focus on sustainability. The water initiatives are big, but they are just one of the most recent areas where the city had focused its conservation efforts. It’s completed several projects as part of the GreenStep Cities program and has been a leader in piloting new ideas.

But many of these non-water-related pilot programs have not been strategically planned. Over the past couple years, the city has worked on implementing a more focused effort to maximize the impact, said Michelle Okada, parks and recreation director.

One way they do that is through Woodbury’s Environmental Stewardship Plan. It was born out of a regular City Council retreat, during which members looked at community surveys and considered feedback from different community groups to create a cohesive plan for the future.

Environmental stewardship has been identified as one of the city’s seven critical success factors and, “To preserve our environment for future generations, the city will foster environmental stewardship through focused conservation, social responsibility, and best management practices,” according to a draft of the plan. “As our local environment faces new challenges, we will make appropriate investments in preservation, adaption, mitigation, and maintenance.”

The group used community surveys, citizen involvement — including groups from churches, students at local schools, and environmental clubs — and other data to put together the priorities. Okada also credited Environmental Division Manager Jennifer McLoughlin for overseeing the efforts.

The document covers areas such as transportation, land use, buildings and energy, waste management, water, food and agriculture, and greenspace. The idea, Okada said, was to give more structure to the efforts that have been in play for a long time.

“I think our staff has done an excellent job of either piloting programs or positioning themselves well to get some of those environmental initiatives paid for through grant funding or cooperative partnerships,” she said. “But we’ve not been really focused. I think, for us, this plan is what is going to help us focus.”

The community surveys and a group of citizens and the Parks and Natural Resources Commission identified several areas of focus and several goals for each focus area for the next 10 years.

“Within each focus area, there were goals and objectives outlined and prioritized by the different entities,” Okada said.

It’s the latest step for a city that has shown a lot of initiative in the past when it comes to preserving its resources for future generations.

“Environmental stewardship has been a foundation and a focus of the City Council for many decades,” said Burt. “We are so proud and thankful for the staff that we have who embrace these programs and help to implement them, and more than anything, for the residents of our community who have said, ‘Yes, we are on board. We are going to do all we can to help.’”

Andrew Tellijohn is a freelance writer.