- Bloomington, Indiana, residents have been without consistently fluoridated tap water since late 2019.
- City officials did not widely publicize the issue, citing concerns about causing unnecessary public alarm over water safety.
- A temporary solution to restore fluoride is planned for 2026, with a permanent fix dependent on a proposed water rate increase.
Bloomington residents have been without consistently fluoridated tap water for nearly six years, a fact that’s not been publicized despite impacts to public health.
Water fluoridation — the process of adding the naturally-occurring mineral fluoride to public water supplies — is a widespread practice in some 72% of water systems across the country. Fluoride in public water supplies helps to strengthen tooth enamel and prevent tooth decay, leading to stronger teeth and fewer cavities, particularly in early development.
But since late 2019, due to an erosion of the City of Bloomington Utilities’ (CBU) water tank lining, Bloomington’s tap water supply has generally sat around 0.1 milligrams or less of fluoride per liter of water — far below the recommended 0.7 milligrams advised by the CDC. Bloomington’s fluoride deficit was first reported by the B Square Bulletin in June after Indiana University chemist Katherine Edmonds noticed the city’s below-average levels in a water report.
Withdrawal from fluoridated water can have significant public health impacts, though it doesn’t affect the potability or safety of tap water. William Sullivan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the IU School of Medicine, says dentists typically see a spike in “cavities, gum disease, and other serious dental problems” in communities where fluoride is withdrawn.
“It shouldn’t be taken lightly — in rare cases, cavities can develop into a life-threatening abscess. Children suffer, parents grow outraged, and public officials quickly resume adding fluoride to the water,” Sullivan said in a written statement.
But despite these issues, neither the CBU nor the city government at large has made any public announcement in the several years that fluoridation has been an issue. The only widely-accessible documentation of Bloomington’s fluoride levels is in the CBU’s annual Consumer Confidence Report — where Edmonds first noticed the far below-average fluoride levels.
‘We have to be cautious as a water utility to not alarm the public’
Kat Zaiger, the CBU’s current director who assumed her position last May, said the CBU has exercised caution in not sending out a message so as not to construe the issue as a health crisis that affects water potability.
“We have to be cautious as a water utility to not alarm the public when they may not fully understand,” Zaiger said during a presentation to the Monroe County Board of Health on Sept. 18.
In an interview with the Herald-Times, Zaiger said the CBU has refrained from using text alerts like those they use for boil water advisories as they worry it could make users less inclined to pay attention emergency alerts about water safety.
“It’s not necessarily impacting our water quality or potability, but it has impacts on our public health, obviously,” Zaiger said.
But the city and CBU’s approach to communicating the fluoride issue has left some in the community frustrated. Stephen Pritchard, a retired dentist and member of the Monroe County Board of Health, says the CBU and the city should’ve done more to communicate with stakeholders — particularly dentists and other medical experts — about the lack of fluoride. Pritchard says he’s now sent out a memo to members of the dental and medical communities about the issue.
“There should be full accounting for this serious lapse in communication with the health department about what I consider an important public health issue,” Pritchard said in a written statement. “The utilities board should divulge what they did to ameliorate this issue and a resolution should be formally adopted for notification of the health department when our drinking water is deficient in any aspect affecting public health.”
Zaiger said that it’s been difficult “inheriting” the fluoride issue since she first assumed her position last year, some four years after the problem first began. And while she and her team restored information on fluoride levels to the Consumer Confidence Report, she said the CBU “probably could’ve done more” to publicize the report and promote it with dental health experts during her Sept. 18 comments to the Board of Health. In the future, she said she’s open to working with the Board of Health and city to delicately message about the issue. She said the CBU also plans to notify the public when fluoride levels are restored.
CBU eyes ‘temporary’ solution for 2026, overhaul pending rate case
Still, Zaiger says, refluoridating the water has proven complicated. Hydrofluorosilicicacid — a corrosive liquid that’s applied to water to add fluoride — is the very thing eroding the tank, which Zaiger says is some 20 years old. The tank was relined with an epoxy lining in 2022, Zaiger said, but erosion has continued
“I don’t know the actual average ‘lifespan’ of a fluoride tank, but I know ours is reaching that, and so it’s just a costly matter of replacing tanks, replacing lines, replacing valves,” Zaiger said during her Sept. 18 comments. “We’re evaluating whether relining it will actually be effective.”
Zaiger added that the erosion of the tank and the concrete underneath it poses a risk to CBU employees who might be exposed to hydrofluorosilicic acid.
Going into 2026, Zaiger says the CBU plans to utilize a bulk container “tote” to safely store the hydrofluorosilicic acid and restore fluoride levels as a “temporary solution.” But ahead of 2027, Zaiger says the CBU plans to take a “holistic look” at their fluoride delivery system, including potentially replacing parts or changing aspects of the delivery method.She says the latter solution would depend on the approval of the CBU’s current rate case, which would increase residential water rates by about 20% and provide funds for their $84 million capital improvement plan.
“We would absolutely need a rate cas
Original article online at: https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2025/10/01/bloomington-utilities-criticized-for-not-notifying-residents-of-fluoride-fluoridation-issue/86369116007/