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Water districts go along with fluoride
By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer | ∞
Most water agencies in Southwest County plan to go along with regional plans to fluoridate water starting in October, but only passively.
Metropolitan Water District, which distributes hundreds of millions of gallons each day to about 18 million customers in the southern half of the state, plans to begin in early October to add fluoride compounds, which most dental-health advocates say help to prevent tooth decay but which critics say are toxic and harmful over time.
Most naturally occurring groundwater contains up to 0.3 parts of fluoride per 1 million, and the American Dental Association recommends that public drinking water contain fluoride at two to three times that level.
According to the American Water Works Association, a consortium of utilities, the water used by about two-thirds of Americans contains added fluoride. "Fluoride" refers to a group of compounds containing the element fluorine. Fluoridated drinking water typically contains a compound of fluorine, hydrogen and silicon.
Critics, particularly in western states, have argued that excess fluoride can build up in the brain, possibly contributing to Alzheimer's disease. One frequently cited study found that fluoridated water was associated with elevated levels of bone cancer among men who were born in areas served by fluoridated water, though most doctors say it is safe if measured and delivered properly.
Eastern Municipal Water District, which serves French Valley and Menifee, expects to spend about $900,000 for its own equipment to add fluoride up to the dental association's standard.
The district said several of its customers had written in to protest its plans to use fluoridated water. Southwest County's other three large agencies said complaints had been minimal.
Those three agencies have little alternative to accepting Metropolitan's new supply. None plan to add more fluoride but none plan to filter out Metropolitan's newly added fluoride, either. Water agencies that serve Temecula and Lake Elsinore have no immediate plans to add fluoride beyond what's in the water from Metropolitan.
Eastern extracts its own groundwater and buys both treated and "raw" ---- untreated and unfluoridated ---- water from Metropolitan that is drawn from the aquifer supplied by Northern California's snowmelt and from the Colorado River. Eastern already treats the raw water at two separate plants, where the new equipment will add fluoride to the same level as the fluoridated water from Metropolitan, spokeswoman Betty Gibbel said.
Eastern plans for its entire drinking water supply to contain about 0.7 parts fluoride per 1 million, the standard that Metropolitan uses.
Western Municipal Water District and Rancho California Water District have no plans to add fluoride. Those agencies buy from Metropolitan and mix it with their own treated water before sending it on to customers. As a result, customers from Lake Elsinore to Wine Country will receive water with fluoride levels only slightly higher than what they have now.
Officials with the Rancho California district, which serves households in Temecula and southern Murrieta, and large agricultural customers in Wine Country and De Luz, don't plan to add fluoride, either.
"It's a controversial subject," district spokeswoman Meggan Reed said.
Adding fluoride remains a vague possibility for Western, which serves a sliver of northern and western Murrieta, spokeswoman Tedi Jackson said.
Like Eastern and Rancho California, the district uses both imported water from Metropolitan and locally extracted groundwater with a fluoride content slightly above 0.3 parts per 1 million. The resulting mix should have a fluoride content between that and the 0.7 parts per 1 million that Metropolitan expects to achieve, Jackson said.
A spokesman for the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District said critics have focused on a handful of cases from districts that fluoridated their water far beyond the recommended range of 0.7 to 0.8 parts per 1 million.
Spokesman Greg Morrison said the district buys about 55 percent of its water from Western. That water's fluoride content will be diluted further when it's mixed with local groundwater, which won't be additionally fluoridated. The district serves residents of Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, and northwestern Murrieta.
"With the dilution factor, it's pretty much a nonissue," spokesman Greg Morrison said.
Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.
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JV wrote on Sep 9, 2007 7:23 AM:Let the people know the truth nc times!!! The Quagga Mussel that has invaded our water system can only be exterminated with fluoridation.It's about $$$$$$ for pipeline repairs NOT PEOPLE'S TEETH!!
Who Cares, nobody drinks tap water wrote on Sep 9, 2007 8:38 AM:Anyone with any common sense and good taste buys bottled water. I have no desire to drink something that came hundreds of miles through an ancient system of pipes, exposed to god knows what chemicals. Get a five gallon bottle and a water crock. you can get well filtered water for 20 cents a gallon. Yes it is tap wter but it is filtered much better than the water district can filter it.
Just-a-Dentist wrote on Sep 9, 2007 8:57 AM:The addition of Fluoride to the drinking water is nothing but smoke and mirrors!! Fluoride does not need to be added to the water supply!! YOU DO NOT NEED FLUORIDE IN THE WATER TO HAVE HEALTHY TEETH!! Any one that tells you anything else is lying to you. Yes, fluoride reduces tooth decay, but so does brushing and flossing and proper nutrition and oral health care. I have had one "cavity" in my 35 years of living in San Diego county, that's not so bad, I can live with that. And you???
Ridiculous! wrote on Sep 9, 2007 9:26 AM:What is the point when all toothpastes have flouride now? This just leaves a by-product that is impossible to get rid of. What a waste! It will take more water than ever to dilute the left overs!
kevin wrote on Sep 9, 2007 5:06 PM:Hitler put flouride in the water he supplied to his concentration camps. It is poison and will make you docile. Why is our government forcing this on us? Why don't we have a chose or are we just suppossed to be sheep and not questions what our loving government wants?
Alf wrote on Sep 9, 2007 6:45 PM:This is for "kevin" and the other conspiracy theorists and hyperbolics- Do you also wear aluminum foil hats? Regards, Alf.
Alf Jr. wrote on Sep 10, 2007 10:11 AM:Right on Alf. So it's ok for the NCT to talk about "critics" (by the way, who are they?) that question the need for fluoride but heaven forbid they mention the critics of global warming. Those critics of global warming are more respectable and in greater number than those of fluoride.
quinnie wrote on Sep 10, 2007 1:33 PM:I am allergic to flouride. thanks a lot! gotta love it when folks start referencing horrible mel gibson movies to attack others.
Lang wrote on Sep 12, 2007 8:29 AM:Guys, please read through your negative comments again. You should feel the hatred among the words. Fluoride is not poisonous. As a chemist, I know that. Chlorine is lethal in high concentration but no one objects its use in drinking water. Do you know why? Because if it is used in controled level, it kills bacteria that are bad for you. Please don't pick the samll innocent guy to fight.
Sonny wrote on Sep 18, 2007 10:56 PM:Lang, so what happens to a person ingesting 5mg per kg bodyweight of fluoride? I believe that is mid-range acute toxicity. Anything ingestible can be poisonous, even water (hyperhydration). I would suggest that you investigate possible links of fluoride and osteosarcoma before spouting off on the supposed safety. Why would I trust the ADA recommendation on ingestible ? Dentistry is not an exact science, let alone internal medicine...
Oceansider wrote on Sep 19, 2007 4:20 PM:All those who question the wisdom of water fluoridation are not "foil hat conspiracy theorists." Please understand that at one time, the ADA campaigned FOR cigarette smoking for women. The profound questions regarding ingested fluoride (as opposed to topical, such as toothpaste) are many and significant, asked by reasonable people concerned about their own and their children's health. Fluoride is a poison and does in fact kill bad bacteria in the mouth -- but what does it do when it passes from the mouth to the stomach? What else does it kill? That is a question one reasonable person wants to know -- have you got a verifiable answer?
Bill wrote on Oct 16, 2007 9:06 PM:If you think its AOK consider the folowing. "Fluoride is a potent chemical that has demonstrated negative health effects on a number of body systems. Multiple scientific studies show that even in modest concentrations, fluoride can impact brain development and IQ, impair kidney and thyroid function, contribute to bone pathology, and inhibit enzyme systems. These health effects are of special concern for infants and children because chemicals are up to ten times more toxic to children since they are smaller in size and their developing organs are more vulnerable to the effects of toxins." The above is a partial quote from a member of the Fluoride Study Commission" (Alaska)
research your facts. wrote on Apr 16, 2008 4:37 PM:ya'll need to research your facts. a person has to drink an entire bathtub full of water to have the toxic effects of fluoride. a person would get water poisoning before they would get poisoned from fluoride.
Charles wrote on Jul 13, 2008 10:28 AM:Why add a known poison to the water for dubious reasons? Add up all the poisons in our environment, that we ingest DAILY, and please tell me why on earth we voluntarily add another to water, something we all must have. One wonders if the increase in fluoridation is related to the increase in cancers and AD/HD? The cumulative effect of the poisons that we ingest is not shown by investigating the effect of a small amount over a short period of time. Fluoride should not be in our water, period. It serves no useful purpose and is a dangerous poison that may very well be at the root of many of our health issues.
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