Birmingham-area water filtration company Central Alabama Water will stop adding fluoride to its drinking water, it announced recently.
The water utility company, which serves Alabamians in Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Blount and Walker counties, said the decision was based on “a comprehensive evaluation of safety, infrastructure and financial considerations.”
Strong opinions
“While we acknowledge there are strong opinions about fluoride in drinking water, this decision is based on our operational, safety and financial needs,” CEO Jeffrey F. Thompson said in a press release. “This change reduces chemical handling risks for our employees, eliminates the use of aging equipment and allows us to focus resources on delivering safe, reliable and exceptionally high-quality drinking water.”
The change in practice comes amid heightened skepticism about the safety of fluoridated drinking water, most notably from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Central Alabama Water said it considered “ongoing public and scientific discussion about potential health impacts from ingesting fluoride over a lifetime” but that it is not taking a position on these medical issues.
The utility also cited the $3.7 million price tag of updating its aging fluoridation equipment and $250,000 annual costs for chemical and recurring maintenance as motivation for the decision.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Claire Harrison and originally published by the Alabama Daily News.
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