L.A. utilities manager thinks city did right thing
Santa Monicans will get a healthy dose of fluoride in their drinking water within a year, city officials said.
Plans are underway to design a water treatment system that will pump fluoride into all of the city’s water supply, said city utilities manager Gil Borboa.
“By July 2003, we should be able to flip the switch and start fluoridating,” he said, adding that the system will have to be approved by the state of California. “That’s kind of the unknown in this process.”
The city council in October voted 4-3 to fluoridate the city’s water after years of controversy and debate among citizens. Council members Herb Katz, Pam O’Connor, Bob Holbrook and Richard Bloom all voted in favor of the plan. Council members Ken Genser and Kevin McKeown as well as Mayor Mike Feinstein voted against it.
Opponents of the plan say fluoride poses significant health risks when ingested, and city government shouldn’t be forcing those risks onto the public. They also say fluoride is a toxic compound, presents an increased risk of osteoporosis and causes dental fluorosis.
The council first considered the issue in 2000, but the idea was voted down in November of that year by a majority. When the issue was presented again in May of 2001, hundreds of citizens publicly argued for and against such a move. The debate was heated and emotional at times, with people toting reams of documents to council chambers as evidence supporting the benefits and risks of water fluoridation. Opponents are still fighting the city against the plan.
But it appears their efforts will be in vain. Borboa said the city is currently soliciting bids to contract with a consulting firm that will help design a system that will be built at the Arcadia Well, located on Bundy Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard.
It will cost an estimated $365,000 to design and build the system, which will be paid for by the state. The city will be responsible for operating the system, which is estimated to cost $35,000 annually.
Fluoride, a naturally occurring substance, already exists in Santa Monica. Officials estimate that Santa Monica’s water supply has a fluoride level of between.2 and.4 parts per million. The plan is to increase that to.8 parts per million, Borboa said.
“That’s what has been determined as the appropriate level for this region by the Federal government, or the Center for Disease Control,” he said. “It’s adding a nutrient for a public health benefit.”
Santa Monica will join thousands of other cities around the country in fluoridating their water with the goal of preventing tooth decay. Fluoride is distributed throughout the body by the blood stream and is deposited in bones and hard tissues like teeth.
Grand Rapids, Mich., became the first city in the nation to fluoridate its water in 1945. Since then, the CDC reports that more than 10,000 public water systems and about 70 percent of U.S. cities with populations larger than 100,000 have fluoridated water systems.
The City of Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego are currently fluoridating their water. But not all California cities approve of fluoridation. In March of 1999, Santa Cruz voters shot down fluoridation in a local ballot measure and the city councils in Escondido and Santa Barbara also rejected such a move.
Santa Monica will become the fifth city in Los Angeles County to be fluoridated, according to David Heumann, an engineer for L.A. Water and Power. Pico Rivera just turned its fluoridation on for the first time Tuesday. Long Beach and Beverly Hills also has fluoridated water.
Heumann was part of the debate last fall when the city council decided to fluoridate. He agrees with the thousands of residents and experts who say fluoride in the water is a public health benefit, particularly for children under 6 years old.
“There is a lot of talk out there about it, but there are only 15 percent who are against it that are vocal,” he said. “Santa Monica did the right thing, although it was painful at times. I saw it. I was there in council chambers until 2 a.m.”
“Santa Monica did the right thing, although it was painful at times... I was there in council chambers until 2 a.m.” — — DAVID HEUMANN L.A. Water and Power engineer
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 12, 2002. Read the original PDF.