ESCONDIDO – The city plans to begin adding fluoride to its water supply Monday, despite a lawsuit to halt the practice.
Escondido would be the first city or water district in the county to fluoridate its water under a 1996 state law that requires larger suppliers to begin the process when funds are available.
City officials and public-health experts say fluoridation, used for decades in much of the country, has been proven safe and effective in preventing tooth decay.
Fluoride opponents question its safety and warn of harmful effects. Critics of Escondido’s plan contend a chemical containing minute amounts of arsenic and lead will be used to add fluoride to the water, which they say could result in higher incidents of cancer.
“It’s an extremely emotional issue on both sides,” said Patrick Thomas, the city’s director of public works. “The public health and dental community supports it because of the fact that their belief is that it will prevent tooth decay.”
The use of fluoridation has increased in the country in the past 60 years. Today more than 60 percent of people who use public water supplies drink fluoridated water.
A lawsuit was filed in 2001 to block Escondido and the state from using hydrofluorosilic acid, which contains trace amounts of arsenic and lead, as the fluoride additive. After several delays, the trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 12.
Jeff Green, national director of the San Diego-based Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, criticized the timing of the city’s decision.
“From our standpoint, here you have a lawsuit that’s taken 2 1/2 years and they want to jump the gun by a couple of months,” he said. “Why? There’s some strategic reason for it, but it’s certainly not because they’re going to save more teeth by starting two months earlier.”
By law, Thomas said, the city had to begin fluoridation once it accepted a grant from the California Dental Association Foundation for equipment. The City Council accepted the $321,560 grant in June 2001.
Norm Blumenthal, the attorney representing several plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the city didn’t consider other fluoridation options without arsenic.
“This case isn’t about fluoridation,” he said. “This case is about adding hydrofluorosilic acid to the water in the name of fluoridation. HFSA is a hazardous material.”
Blumenthal said city officials are downplaying the significance of the arsenic levels. He said he plans to show at trial that one in 1,000 Escondido residents could get bladder or lung cancer if the fluoridation is implemented.
Arsenic is toxic at high levels, but minute traces of it occur naturally in most ground water. The federal standard for arsenic in drinking water is 50 parts per billion. In 2006, the standard will be lowered to 10 parts per billion. One part per billion is the equivalent of one drop of water in a 10,000 gallon pool.
Glen Peterson, the interim utilities manager, said yesterday that the arsenic level in Escondido’s water will be only a fraction of the federal standard for 2006. “What is going to be put in the water will not even be detectable,” he said.
Fluoride opponents, however, contend that arsenic can be harmful at levels well below federal standards.
Peterson added that hydrofluorosilic acid is the most widely used chemical for adding fluoride to public drinking water and has been approved by the state Health Department and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
City officials will supplement the natural level of fluoride in the city’s water supply – about 0.3 parts per million – to 0.8 parts per million, considered optimal for preventing tooth decay.
About 75 percent of Escondido will receive the fluoride-treated water. Residents who receive water from a supplier other than the city – such as the Rincon Municipal Water District, Valley Center Municipal Water District and Vallecitos Water District – may not.
Officials plan to make the announcement at the city’s Water Treatment Plant, 3440 E. Valley Parkway, at 9:30 a.m. today.
While Escondido residents may be the first in the county to drink fluoridated water, they almost certainly won’t be the only ones.
The Metropolitan Water District, which delivers treated water to agencies that serve 18 million people in Southern California, including a large portion of San Diego County, will begin using fluoride in 2006. The city of San Diego has its own treatment plant, however, and will not receive that water.
State Sen. Dede Alpert has introduced a bill to clear barriers to plans by San Diego to add fluoride to its water. She is seeking to clarify the language of the 1996 state law so that cities must proceed if funding is “offered.” Currently, cities can refuse to act until the money is “obtained” or “acquired.”
San Diego is the largest city in the nation that does not put fluoride in its water, she said.
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