The Iowa Falls City Council opened their meeting with public comment and heard from resident Michael Krogh at the start of Monday’s monthly meeting. He asked the council to remove fluoride from the town’s water source.
“Essentially I would like to take the fluoride out of the drinking water,” Krogh began. “I don’t know how we go about doing that, but I noticed that it’s being taken out and nobody is adding it in. I don’t understand why we’re adding it.”
He said if there was a demand, that would be one thing, but he says it’s been going away in communities. “Eldora doesn’t have it; Alden doesn’t have it.”
Water/Wastewater Superintendent Travis Schutt explained that the city’s wells have natural fluoride in them, “so we add very little… less than a gallon a day at both water plants.”
“Can we stop doing that?” Krogh asked, and Schutt said he had to check with the DNR. “Fluoride has been added to the city’s water since 1968, and the limit has dropped from 1 to .7,” he said. “You’d have to start with the DNR to see what you have to do to stop adding.”
“You’re not the first person to say this,” Mayor Michael Emerson told Krough “And you’re right, it is a growing trend.”
Council member Bruce Thies said it would be too expensive to remove the fluoride, and Emerson said, “to remove the natural fluoride would be difficult, not adding supplemental.”
The city spends around $400 a month to add fluoride to the water. The council will take Krogh’s request into consideration and will do some research.
Original article online at: https://www.timescitizen.com/news/council-hears-fluoride-removal-request-ragbrai-update/article_774161f3-d73b-4b8d-a7b9-f60cbe3209ba.html