A Jefferson County Judge on Thursday lifted his restraining order against Central Alabama Water, ending a legal challenge to the utility that began when it stopped adding fluoride to drinking water.
The hearing before Judge Frederic Bolling lasted more than four hours as lawyers for the city of Birmingham made their case that the regional water utility violated state law when it ended fluoridation.
Bolling agreed that the utility had violated the rules, but said there was little else he could do once CAW finally provided notice to state health officials.
Birmingham City Attorney Nicole King said in opening remarks that CAW, the state’s largest water system, broke both the law and public trust with “unilateral, unlawful and concealed” actions to end fluoridation.
Mayor Randall Woodfin has been critical of Central Alabama’s decision and accused its leaders of making political moves with indifference to public health.
The city filed a lawsuit March 27 and asked Bolling to order the utility to pause on its plans.
Still, Bolling questioned the city’s argument that he could go further and order a permanent return of fluoride.
The city urged Bolling to declare a public nuisance regarding the issue.
All four CAW plants have at times stopped providing fluoride, including the last plant to provide it.
CAW previously defended its action to stop fluoride and said most of Birmingham had not received it for years anyway.
In court, water utility attorney Shan Paden said each of the four plants that serve the system had experienced malfunction over the years which would cost millions to repair.
When the system announced this month that it would stop all fluoride, only the Shades Mountain Filter Plant provided fluoridation.
That facility provides water to much of the suburban areas.
Paden on Thursday said even the Shades Mountain had been down for several years between 2020 and 2023.
That plant also went out again around the time CAW announced a system wide end to fluoridation, Paden said.
“They were at their end of life,” he said of equipment that has been used since 1980.
“These fluoride systems are highly corrosive. Maintaining them is extremely hard.”
He said the Putman plant went out in 2024.
Plans were ordered by the former Birmingham Water Works to design a new system there, but were not completed.
“The design is not there yet,” Paden said, adding that he was not “throwing eggs” at previous managers of the former Birmingham Water Works.
Bolling responded: “If truth comes in the form of an egg, Happy Easter.”
Work to replace and build new infrastructure at Putman Filter Plant, needed to restore fluoridation, would take at least 315 days to complete, Paden said.
Another system failure at Western filter plant would cost $25 million to replace to include other related infrastructure needs there.
While CAW critics have pointed to current managers for ceasing fluoride distribution, Bolling said there is enough blame to go around.
Bolling noted that initial issues with fluoride occurred under the leadership of the Birmingham Water Works, not the current leadership.
“There’s been a very big letdown, but in 2023 it was not Central Alabama Water,” he said.
Utility lawyers had argued that Bolling’s previous association with the utility and his prior criticism of its former chief lawyer could compromise his impartiality.
Water board lawyers argued that Bolling frequently showed his disdain for the utility.
Nevertheless, he ruled in their favor.
Bolling’s order ends at least one in a series of pending lawsuits challenging the operation and structure of CAW in both state and federal courts.
Original article online at: https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2026/04/alabamas-largest-water-system-can-stop-adding-fluoride-after-judge-reverses-course-ends-lawsuit.html