MADISON, Ala. (WAFF) – Big changes are coming for the drinking water in Madison this summer.
The city will remove fluoride from the city’s water supply.
If you live in Madison, fluoride will no longer be added to your water, starting June 16th.
WAFF 48 spoke to Madison Utilities water manager, David Moore, for more information on this change.
He said it’s not because of Health Secretary Robert Kennedy’s recommendation to stop fluoridation in drinking water.
Moore said the city of Madison spends around $14,000 every year to buy the chemical.
He says the maintenance cost, on top of that, is significantly higher.
Moore added that the utility decided to end adding fluoride after 34 years because of the hazards in handling the chemical.
“It’s just hazardous to employees as far as touch inhalation, and it damages a lot of our structure,” Moore said.
Moore said when Madison Utilities upgraded their old water plant, it brought to light the damaging effects of fluoride in their water.
But the President of the Alabama Dental Society worries about what the change could do for dental health.
Dr. Lori Wilson has already seen an increase in tooth decay, cavities, and other dental issues because of high sugar diets, especially in children.
She said taking fluoride out of the water is only going to make these issues worse.
“You’re going to see it there, it’s really going to be in your face probably within six months you’re going to see there’s going to be an increase in tooth decay and the populations that the Alabama public heath says that affected the most are the kids; are the children,” Wilson said.
Wilson says five counties in Alabama don’t have a dentist at all.
She says that the extra fluoride added to the drinking water helps counteract all the sugar people consume on a daily basis.
The group Fluoride Action Network shows that 89 percent of public water systems were fluoridated in 2000.
That dropped to 78 percent by 2018, which ranked 24th in the country.
Original article online at: https://www.waff.com/2025/04/25/city-madison-remove-fluoride-drinking-water-dentists-disagree/