- Hanover Borough will soon receive a fluoride delivery, avoiding the need for an emergency permit to pause its use in the public water system.
- This supply issue is separate from the borough council’s ongoing consideration to permanently remove fluoride from the water system.
- A supplier, Univar Solutions, stated it has ample supplies of fluoride, despite difficulties Hanover faced during its bidding process.
With a delivery of fluoride soon arriving, Hanover Borough will no longer have to seek an emergency permit to temporarily pause the use of fluoride in the public water system, according to officials.
In an interview with The Evening Sun, Tony Thomas, the borough’s director of Water and Wastewater Treatment, shared that a delivery of fluoride from Univar Solutions will arrive on April 9, 2026.
The development comes just days after Thomas had previously told council on March 25 that Hanover was unable to find a supplier, and would likely be out of the chemical in four to six weeks. That situation, he said, meant that the water system had to begin seeking an emergency permit to temporarily pause the use of fluoride in their water treatment.
In a statement to the Evening Sun, a spokesperson for Univar Solutions stated that the company has encountered no shortage of fluoride and has “ample supplies” for any prospective customers.
The consideration for an emergency permit had arisen separately from the Hanover council’s recent consideration of permanently removing fluoride from the water system, borough manager Margie Lewis noted in a prior meeting.
A vote on the permanent removal of fluoride from the water system’s permit was postponed during a March 17 meeting, in which the council requested additional information from staff and further public notice.
Despite the new supply, the postponed discussion of permanent removal was likely to return to conversation during the next meeting of the Hanover Borough Water & Sewer Committee, scheduled in May.
While Hanover opted voluntarily to add fluoride to the water system in 1972, the system is required to meet the testing standards for fluoride levels under Hanover’s water permit, and if water tests do not reach the required levels listed on their permit, the state would still consider that a violation of Hanover’s permit.
As a result, the Water Resources Department had discussed beginning the process to apply for an emergency permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to temporarily pause the required levels of fluoride that are listed on their water permit, Thomas said.
That emergency permit modification was now no longer necessary, Thomas told The Evening Sun, as Hanover officials received shipment information for the Univar delivery on March 27, which confirmed that the shipment would be arriving on April 9, well before supplies run out.
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay. About one-third of community water systems — 17,000 out of 51,000 across the U.S. — serving more than 60% of the population fluoridated their water, according to a 2022 CDC analysis.
The CDC reports that the discontinuation of supplemental fluoridation triggers an on-average 25% increase in cavities and dental costs across a community.
Procurement process brings complexity
In an interview with The Evening Sun, Thomas and Hanover’s director of engineering, Eric Mains, discussed the municipal procurement code and the regulatory environment that the municipality must navigate annually when seeking bids for various supplies and projects.
Thomas explained that Univar Solutions had been awarded Hanover’s bid for the 2025 contract, but had not offered a bid for the 2026 contract.
During the annual supply bidding process, a process obligated by the municipal procurement code, Hanover annually puts out a bid for fluoride. That bid comes as part of the “Joint Municipal Bid” process, which includes surrounding municipalities such as Penn Township, and allows suppliers to make bids for various supplies at the same time.
When unable to negotiate a locked-in bid price for an entire year’s worth of supply, the municipality must negotiate purchases on the general market, which may vary purchase-by-purchase.
Fluoride, Thomas said, is stored in a large tank at the water treatment facility, and is refilled by a truck once the tank reaches a low enough level. Because of that, he said, “we don’t have the luxury of ordering far in advance, as our tank only holds so much.”
In 2026, Hanover had received a bid from Pencco Inc., who then later backed out of their bid, along with a bid from Shannon Chemical, which was “a lot higher than normal” at 57 cents per pound
Shannon Chemical was then awarded a bid in February 2026, but when the written contract was sent, the company indicated they would not be signing the contract.
The DEP, which had offered Hanover the ability to obtain an emergency permit to temporarily pause their permit’s requirements for fluoride levels if the municipality ran out of fluoride, had also provided Thomas with a list of potential suppliers.
Many, Thomas said, did not respond to his inquiries.
After Hanover faced difficulty in the 2026 contract bidding process, Thomas shared that he was able to obtain a verbal agreement with Univar Solutions under only a marginal price increase from 2025, with a purchase made from Univar on March 13.
Univar has provided a price agreement locking in a price for three months of additional fluoride shipments, Thomas said, with hopes that a written contract may be able to be obtained between the two.
While Hanover was potentially looking at an increase of 21 cents under the Shannon Chemical bid of 57 cents per pound, Univar offered to lock in the price at 40 cents a pound for the next three months, making for only a four cent increase over their previous rate.
When the delivery arrives on April 9, the resupply should last Hanover for another three to four months, he said.
Currently, Thomas said, Hanover plans to utilize the Univar supply while possible, and to see where the market is after the three month price guarantee.
While Thomas didn’t speculate as to why Univar did not bid on the upcoming contract, he expressed that he was hopeful that they would potentially offer a bid for Hanover, which would provide Hanover with better certainty on where their supply is coming from.
Supplies strong, supplier says
While Thomas said some suppliers had indicated to him that there was a shortage of fluoride, a representative of Univar Solutions told The Evening Sun that their company is not experiencing any shortage.
“We do have ample supply for future orders,” said Dwayne Roark, the vice president of corporate affairs, marketing and communications for Univar Solutions.
Roark expressed that Univar is currently supporting Hanover on a “spot/quoted basis” which consists of three-month quotes for fluoride, and has been in frequent communication with officials. The most recent communication with Hanover officials, he said, was on March 27, when the April 9 delivery date was confirmed.
“We want to be clear that Univar Solutions does have supply,” said Roark, who said the company is ready and able to provide for “any customers who are in need of this valuable product.”
While Thomas expressed he was not given a clear reason as to why some suppliers may be encountering a shortage, one company, Coyne Chemical, told him that they believed that in Coyne’s case, the shortage may involve the ongoing military conflict in Iran.
According to that supplier, Thomas said, the company suggested that some supplies of fluoride stem from Israel, and may have decreased exports due to the ongoing conflict.
Ultimately, Thomas expressed, he did not have a definitive explanation as to why some suppliers were experiencing difficulty in sourcing the material.
Original article online at: https://www.eveningsun.com/story/news/local/2026/04/01/hanover-fluoride-delivery-avoids-need-for-emergency-permit-ending-use/89409296007/