JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) – A Jefferson County judge said late Thursday afternoon, April 2, he intends to dissolve a court order that would force Central Alabama Water (CAW) to start putting fluoride back into the water supply.
The state’s biggest water utility is not putting fluoride in the water supply right now and will make that permanent in a matter of months, according to court action Thursday.
The city of Birmingham wants Jefferson County Circuit Judge Frederic Bolling to force the utility to restart putting fluoride in the water. On Thursday, the utility showed the court engineering estimates that say it would take at least 315 days and almost $4 million to repair the equipment needed to do that.
Bolling said his and the state’s influence over this issue will end in 90 days.
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 today 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 said Thursday that he believes the utility did not give the proper notice. However, he said there is no practical way to force them to restart fluoride before this 90-day notification period runs out in June.
The judge will not make this official for another 10 days to allow the city to put more evidence into the record, but he left no doubt that he would dissolve this restraining order.
The practical effect of that is that fluoride is out of the Central Alabama Water supply and does not appear to be coming back.
Original article online at: https://www.wbrc.com/2026/04/02/judge-intends-dissolve-order-requiring-central-alabama-water-restore-fluoride-drinking-water/