In light of recent study, water board wants to hear more about the safety of fluoride —Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ

Regulators of the local water system want to hear from experts and members of the public before deciding what to do about fluoride in the Albuquerque area’s drinking water.

Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority staff Wednesday shared with board members background information on the history of fluoridation and the possible future of the practice here.

The looming question is whether the utility should continue to add fluoride to the water, with the balance between the health benefits associated with the additive and its perceived dangers.

Board member and County Commissioner Adriann Barboa said she’d like to hear from experts in the field as well as from the general public. Other members asked staff to investigate what other water providers are doing.

Danielle Shuryn, compliance division manager for the water authority, said staff would initiate the process of gathering public input.

Board Chair Eric Olivas asked for the presentation after a new report released in Augustfound that exposure to high levels of fluoride in drinking water could be associated with lower IQ in children.

Albuquerque and Bernalillo County’s fluoride levels are well below the levels cited in that report, local water officials said at the time, noting that the American Dental Association continues to recommend community water fluoridation — shown to prevent tooth decayin children and adults, even with widespread public access to fluoride from other sources such as toothpaste.

Shuryn said there is some fluoride that’s naturally present in the area’s water, which is supplemented at a treatment plant before going out to customers.

Albuquerque added fluoride to its water from 1972 until 2011, when the Water Authority temporarily suspended the practice pending new federal recommendations on optimal fluoride levels. The practice was re-started in 2018 after the Centers for Disease Control eventually issued a recommended optimal level of 0.7 milligrams per liter.

Shuryn said the average level in the Water Authority’s service area last year was 0.59 milligrams per liter, less than half the level at which the National Toxicology Program found the possible link to lower IQs.

In response to a question from board member and Albuquerque City Councilor Louie Sanchez, she said the amount of fluoride in the Albuquerque area is roughly the same as “one squeeze” of an eyedropper into a 10-gallon tank.

Shuryn said the Water Authority has spent about $356,000 on fluoride since it resumed adding it to the water, along with another $432,00 on equipment maintenance. She said the temporary fluoridation system is scheduled for replacement in the 2030-2031 fiscal year, at a cost of $4 million.

Original article online at: https://www.kunm.org/kunm-news-update/2024-10-25/fri-bernco-questions-fluoride-in-drinking-water-fema-in-roswell-following-500-year-flood-more