taining fluoride, city officials said.
In 1995, the state of California passed legislation — AB733 — requiring large public water systems to fluoridate their water if sufficient non-ratepayer funds are available to do so. Since then, many California cities have considered fluoridation. Several communities have begun fluoridating their supplies while others have decided against voluntary fluoridation.
In response to AB733, the City of Santa Monica sent a survey to all addresses within the city in April 1996 asking respondents whether they thought the city should add fluoride to the tap water. Approximately 70 percent of respondents indicated they were in favor of fluoridation.
The City Council debated the issue and ultimately decided to go ahead with fluoridation in 2001.
There really wasn’t any other choice available considering City Hall is forced to buy water from MWD, which decided to move forward with fluoridation in 2003. City Hall purchases water from MWD because Santa Monica’s major wells were contaminated with a toxic fuel additive known as MTBE.
The city received $131 million in December of last year as part of a settlement with three major oil companies responsible for polluting the wells. The money is being used to build a water treatment facility to clean the wells and get them pumping again. City officials are said to still be in the design phase and hope to have the facility up and running by 2010.
Despite assurances from water quality officials, opponents to fluoridation are still not convinced that increasing the level of the naturally occurring element will be beneficial to their health and want more studies to be done before they let one drop slip passed their lips.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 26, 2007. Read the original PDF.