Focus Area: Infrastructure
Staff Contact: Mary Jaeger/ Zach Hardy/ Michelle Probasco
Subject: Report on water fluoridation within the City of Olathe’s water service area
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Report on water fluoridation within the City of Olathe’s water services area.
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Summary:
The City of Olathe began water fluoridation in 1959 after a public vote and has continued to this day.
No state or federal mandates require fluoride to be added to drinking water, however, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Dental Association recommend fluoridation at a concentration of 0.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L). Long-standing public health policy supports fluoridation of drinking water as a protective measure against dental caries, particularly in children. The addition of fluoride to public water supplies is often cited as a public health success, providing widespread dental health benefits to the community regardless of socioeconomic status.
At higher levels, fluoride can have adverse effects, leading the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set a secondary contaminant limit at 2.0 mg/L and a maximum contaminant level at 4.0 mg/L fluoride in finished water. A drinking water system with fluoride levels between 2.0 mg/L and 4.0 mg/L must test and submit compliance reports more frequently than Olathe's standard reporting frequency of once per annual quarter. A system reporting greater than 4.0 mg/L fluoride is required, among other actions, to notify the public and implement corrective measures to reduce fluoride concentration in their finished water.
The alluvial aquifer of the Kansas River, which serves as the water source for the City of Olathe, naturally contains about 0.25 mg/L geologically sourced fluoride. Olathe’s Environmental Services staff sample and test the combined well water feeding the plant twice weekly for background fluoride levels.
Fluoride is added to the water supply, at Olathe’s Water Plant, to maintain a target concentration of 0.7 mg/L. Tight control of fluoride addition is achieved using peristaltic pumps that automatically adjust to the flow rate of water being processed. This addition is monitored continuously through the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system with the feed tank level and pump system checked at least three times per 24-hour period to verify fluoride is feeding normally. Water Production and Laboratory staff perform testing for fluoride, using a certified method, to ensure ongoing compliance.
On September 25, 2024, a potentially significant ruling was issued by Judge Edward Chen in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in the case of the Food & Water Watch against the EPA (Case No. 17-CV-02162-EMC). Food & Water Watch, a Washington D.C. based non-governmental organization, filed the lawsuit arguing that adding fluoride to drinking water poses an "unreasonable risk" to health, particularly to children's brain development.
Judge Chen ruled in favor of the Food & Water Watch, finding that recommended levels of fluoride in drinking water at 0.7 mg/L might pose an unreasonable risk to children's IQ. He was careful to say that his ruling “does not conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is injurious to public health.” But that evidence of its potential risk is enough to warrant forcing EPA to take action saying, “In all, there is substantial and scientifically credible evidence establishing that fluoride poses a risk to human health; it is associated with a reduction in the IQ of children and is hazardous at dosages that are far too close to fluoride levels in the drinking water of the United States.”
“Specifically, The Court finds that fluoridation of water at 0.7 mg/L - the level presently considered “optimal” in the United States - poses an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children. It should be noted that this finding does not conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is injurious to public health; rather, as required by the Amended TSCA, the Court finds there is an unreasonable risk of such injury, a risk sufficient to require the EPA to engage with a regulatory response. This order does not dictate precisely what that response must be. Amended TSCA leaves that decision in the first instance to the EPA. One thing the EPA cannot do, however, in the face of this Court’s finding, is to ignore that risk.”
On January 17, 2025, the EPA filed notice to appeal this ruling without offering an explanation or justification for their decision. How, exactly, these legal actions translate into actual changes in fluoride regulations remains to be seen.
Given the recent court ruling, Olathe, like other communities, is facing questions from concerned residents. While the American Dental Association supports its continuation, citing benefits for oral health, the court ruling has introduced a degree of skepticism about whether the merits of fluoridation outweigh any potential harm.
City staff are actively monitoring the situation and are acting in accordance with regulatory advice from state and federal regulators.
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Financial Impact:
Fluoride addition is achieved by adding Fluorosilicic Acid (FSA). At a price of $0.408 per pound and annual usage in the range of 110,000 lbs, Olathe’s chemical costs are approximately $45,000 per year to add fluoride.
Although day to day costs associated with operating and maintaining the fluoride addition system is minimal, fluorosilicic acid is corrosive to pumps, tanks, and lines and future repair and replacement should be planned for.
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Action Needed:
For information only.
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Attachment(s):
A. Fluoride in Olathe’s Drinking Water - Current Practices and Emerging Considerations