Lawmakers add mineral to water
CITYWIDE The regional agency that supplies roughly 90 percent of Santa Monica’s drinking water will move forward with plans to mix in fluoride this fall, despite lingering debates over the additive’s health benefits.
The Metropolitan Water District board of directors voted in 2003 to fluoridate the water it supplies in a six-county service area, a move supported by advocates who fought for the change as a method of preventing tooth decay.
After years of planning, the agency, which heard testimony from both sides of the issue Monday, is prepared to fluoridate the water at its Riverside treatment plant in late October, before moving on to four others, including the F.E. Weymouth Treatment Plant in LaVerne, which supplies water to Los Angeles County communities, said Edgar G. Dymally, senior environmental specialist with water quality for MWD.
“We are convinced here, and we deal with protecting the public health as part of our mission, that the water is safe,” Dymally said.“There has been no credible evidence presented to us or the water community indicating that drinking water fortified with fluoride is deleterious to public health.
“This has been proven to be safe and effective.” Fluoridated water is expected to start flowing from Santa Monica taps by Nov. 12. Gil Borboa, City Hall’s water resource manager, said city staff will also add fluoride to the remaining 10 percent of water supplied to residents and local businesses from a well beneath San Vicente Boulevard.
Notices will be sent out to every residence and business soon informing people about the change. About 0.2 to 0.4 miligrams of fluoride occur naturally in drinking water. The MWD and City Hall plan to bump that up to 0.7 to 0.8 milligrams per liter, which they believe is safe and beneficial.
“There’s no question this is a very polarizing issue and there are very strong opinions, both pro and con,” Borboa said. “The decision to fluoridate in Santa Monica was (City) Council-driven and our Council debated it and voted to proceed with fluoridation after considering all kinds of evidence. Many opinions were expressed and the council decided, ultimately, to go ahead with it.”
There really wasn’t any other choice available, considering City Hall is forced to buy 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 as part of a settlement with three major oil companies responsible for polluting the wells. The money is going to be used to build a water treatment facility to clean the wells and get them pumping water again.
Borboa said city staff is still in the design phase and hopes to have it up and running by 2010.
Despite assurances from water quality officials, opponents of fluoridation are still not convinced that increasing the level of the naturally occurring element will be beneficial to their health.
Instead, they believe that too much fluoride can be dangerous, particularly for young babies that get most of their nutrition from powdered or liquid infant formula mixed with water containing fluoride. The American Dental Association issued a warning to parents last year warning them to watch their child’s fluoride intake so that they do not develop dental fluorosis — a defect of the teeth which can result in staining and even corrosion of the enamel.
“If they move ahead with this process in October, they are making a terrible mistake,” said Gene Burke of Santa Monicans for Safe Drinking Water Coalition. “We feel there are all sorts of misrepresentations and omissions of fact amid a lack of transparency in this whole fluoridation process. The MWD has not done their due diligence in investigating this and it’s urgent that they do that.
“They need to be upfront before they begin the mass medication of 18 million people in six counties.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 23, 2007. Read the original PDF.