JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) – A Jefferson County circuit judge dissolved a temporary restraining order Monday that would have required Central Alabama Water to resume putting fluoride back into the water supply.
The practical effect of this – fluoride is out of the Central Alabama Water supply and does not appear to be coming back.
Circuit Judge Frederic Allen Bolling originally granted the restraining order on Monday, March 30.
The city of Birmingham wanted Judge Bolling to force the utility to restart putting fluoride in the water. Earlier this month, the utility showed the court engineering estimates that said it would take at least 315 days and almost $4 million to repair the equipment needed to do that.
State law does not require fluoride in water — only that water systems who intend to stop adding fluoride must give the state health officer 90 days notice before they do it.
CAW, while it was the Birmingham Water Works Board, stopped putting fluoride in three of its four treatment plants in 2023 and 2024 when it was the because equipment broke down.
The utility also did not put fluoride in water at the Shades Mountain plant for four years from 2020 to 2024.
The utility said those were considered temporary situations while they waited on designs for new systems. However, they made the decision in March to make it permanent and that’s when they notified the state.
Judge Bolling has said that he believes the utility did not give the proper notice. However, he said there was no practical way to force them to restart fluoride before the 90-day notification period runs out in June.
Original article online at: https://www.wbrc.com/2026/04/21/judge-dissolves-order-requiring-central-alabama-water-restore-fluoride-drinking-water/