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Politics & Government

Renton Reduces Amount of Fluoride in Water

The City of Renton recently reduced the amount of fluoride in its water based on new recommendations.

Since 1987 Renton has added fluoride to its drinking water. But now, as a result of recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Washington State Department of Health, City officials decided to reduced the amount of fluoride in the drinking water supply to the lowest recommended levels. 

The process of adding fluoride to water is widely known to prevent tooth decay.

HHS revised its fluoride recommendation in January. Instead of the former guideline, which stated safe levels range between 7 -1.2 mg per liter of water, HHS reduced "the safest level possible" recommendation to .7 mg per liter of water. Because of those recommendations, this year the city of Renton changed the fluoride levels to .8—the lowest level recommended by Washington State Department of Health (the range was previously .8-1.3 ppm for Washington state).

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Most of Renton's water supply comes from the Cedar Valley aquifer, in addition to several different wells that pull water from the aquifer. Three of those wells are located in a building near the Skate Park. The remaining wells are located near the Maplewood Golf Course and in Cedar River Park.

Fluoride has been added to drinking water in many places in the United States since the 1940s. And, in the '60s and '70s in some parts of the U.S., children took fluoride tablets as a supplement for stinger teeth. In recent years, however, there is some controversy over whether or not fluoride is safe, let alone effective.  

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This January, the New York Times posted a lengthy article about the EPA’s new recommendations, in addition to banning some pesticides on fruits and vegetables that degrade into fluoride. 

Councilmember Randy Corman has written extensively in his blog at randycorman.com about the side effects of fluoride consumption, because his daughter, Katie Jones, has extreme sensitivity to it. Corman said that his daughter experiences severe stomach cramps when she consumes fluoridated water, or fruits and vegetables that contain the chemical. When she spent a year in Japan, where they do not have fluoridated water, she didn’t experience any of the painful side effects.

To combat the symptoms, the Cormans and their daughter have installed reverse-osmosis filters in their homes to reduce their overall fluoride consumption.

“In my opinion, these revised federal policies are positive, and they will help achieve a desirable compromise in the persistent debate regarding fluoride in our water systems,” Corman said. 

Dr. J. Michael Hardy, a local dentist, believed the benefits of fluoride far outweigh any risks.

“There is no hard evidence that it is harmful to the body," he said.

Water Utilities Supervisor Abdoul Gafour said the city adds 50,000 pounds of fluoride to the water supply each year. While it may sound like a lot, it isn’t much, he said, considering the city's total water production per year is 2.76 billion gallons. 

Last year, the city spent about $30,000 on fluoride. With the recent decrease in fluoride levels, that amount will be even less next year, he said.

How much is .8/ppm?

It's the equivalent of “one drop of water in an entire bathtub full of water,” Gafour said.

Hardy had an anecdotal story about the benefits of fluoride. When he started practicing dentistry more than 30 years ago, some communities did not have fluoridated water.  Hardy could immediately identify which kids came from the area with non-fluoridated water because they had more dental problems.

Debbie Daly, a dental hygienist with Dr. Steven Lee & Associates in the Renton Highlands, agrees with Hardy that the benefits of fluoridated water far outweigh any risks that she has ever heard about and is a huge advocate of it. The chief beneficiaries are children who are low-income who couldn’t otherwise afford fluoride treatments; they are getting it in their drinking water.

Gafour will brief the city’s utilities committee about further changes recommended by the Washington State Health Department on March 24 at 3 p.m. in City Hall.

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