After several months of discussions and research on the matter of adding fluoride to the City of Petal’s water system, officials from the Petal Board of Aldermen recently approved a $37,765 bid from Southern Chlorinator in Taylorsville to begin that process.

That bid was accepted at the December 5 board meeting, where Mayor Tony Ducker said the company will probably begin their work after the Christmas holiday.

“They’ll come and basically start their process in January,” he said. “They’ve got to get all their equipment in and everything, so I’m not sure exactly when they’ll start putting the fluoride in.”

The bid from Southern Chlorinator was considered the lowest and best bid of the two received by aldermen. The other bid was $37,360, from Coast Chlorinator in Biloxi. Ward 5 Alderman Drew Brickson said the city has worked with Southern Chlorinator in the past, and that company was recommended by officials from Clearwater Solutions, which manages the Petal Public Works Department.

“I’d be optimistic if we’re up and running (completely) by January, because we’ve got to order parts because the (existing) pumps have to be reinstalled,” Brickson said. “And that’s part of the thing, that when we looked at it, it’s expensive because we have to re-establish our pumps that have gone fallow for almost two years.

“So when the equipment isn’t maintained, a lot of times you have to start from scratch, so the upfront cost stings a little bit, but it’s the right thing to do. Now we’re just making sure we have a constant supply, and the rest of the board have been saying for the last two months they want to do this – it was unanimous. So I’m glad (the mayor) was able to … get quotes and get people to respond and come back with estimates.”

The $35,765 will cover the replacement off the city’s current fluoride pumps, along with upgrades to the system’s computers and electronics to be handle the system in the city’s three existing wells.

“That is enough to start the system and run it for a month, basically,” Brickson said. “Fluoride ranges from $70 a bag to $150 per bag. “So I estimate we’ll probably spend $10,000 in fluoride chemicals … but we’ll try to stockpile it, and get a fluoride shed where we can do three or six months of stock.

The fluoride costs eah month are included in our contract with Clearwater, so there is no hit to our budget. The equipment and setup costs are the responsibility of the city of pay from our budget.”

The City of Petal began adding fluoride to its water supply in 2011. Approximately one-third of city residents, however, don’t receive fluoride in their drinking water, including customers of Barrontown Utility Association.

Petal dentist Barbara Mauldin has made several visits to board meetings throughout the past several months to tout the benefits of fluoride – especially for young children – and encourage aldermen to continue the process of fluoridation.

She said when fluoride is administered at a certain growth period throughout a child’s life, the chemical replaces a hydroxy molecule – which forms the tooth – which makes teeth denser, which helps them resist breakdown from acids.

“Acid attack is what causes decay,” Mauldin said. “So when a child is brought up in our community, they’re going to have the benefit of having the best teeth they can (if we have fluoride).

“We’ve been missing this now for a while, so those children who have not been under fluoride (do not get that benefit). So I implore you to be active to let’s get going on this.”

Back in April, Mauldin told the board that she had found a few vendors to supply the fluoride, but Fountain said he had experienced difficulty finding a vendor with an available stock. One company, for example, told him they had 200 bags in stock, but 400 already were allocated and the date of the next shipment was unknown.

Mauldin said one of the vendors did tell her that the cost of sodium fluoride had increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the doctor said that measure applies to almost everything these days, including eggs at the grocery store.

“I mean, come on,” Mauldin said. “Everything we touch these days is infinitely more expensive … and I think that’s what you need to decide.

“But to say that it’s not at all available, I think was not completely truthful. I wish that we were one of those cities that had been on back order, instead of being here trying to re-establish a relationship.”

From October 2021 to August 2022, the City of Petal used 65 bags of fluoride; the previous year it used 112 bags. As of Mauldin’s first visit to the board, the city had not been able to obtain fluoride for approximately two months.

“I know there was a period where the city was without fluoride, when we were on the old Public Works (before Clearwater Solutions took over those services),” Brickson said. “We were trying to order it, and during the pandemic, that’s when things finally came to our notice at the board, and we realized we had been without fluoride for six months because we couldn’t get it because of logistical issues.

“I know there was an argument as to why we should do fluoride, but I believe in fluoride even though some of our wards are serviced by water associations that don’t fluoridate their water. And I think that’s to the detriment of the children in those wards, so I applaud (the mayor) and the rest of the board for doing the right thing for as many kids and young adults as we can.”

According to the Mississippi State Department of Health’s website, fluoride has been proven to protect teeth from decay, helping to rebuild and strengthen the tooth surface by replenishing minerals.

“It strengthens teeth that are still developing in young children, and helps prevent adult tooth decay as gums recede with age,” the website states. Fluoride is safe and cost-effective when added to community water systems that may require it, and fluoride treatment provides early, long-lasting prevention for children against oral and dental disease.”

Samantha McCain, who serves as chief communication officer for the City of Hattiesburg, said to the best of her knowledge, there has never been a problem procuring fluoride, and prices are currently normal.

From October 2021 to August 2022, the City of Petal used 65 bags of fluoride; the previous year it used 112 bags. As of Mauldin’s first visit to the board, the city had not been able to obtain fluoride for approximately two months.

Studies from the American Public Health Association show fluoridated water prevents at least 25 percent of tooth decay in children and adults, along with the use of other fluoride products. In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the fluoridation of water to be “one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.”

Fluoridation does have its opponents, however. The website of the National Center for Biotechnology Information – www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – lists several pros for the measure, but a few alleged cons as well.

Those include the fact that excessive fluoride intake may cause dental fluorosis; water may possibly be contaminated with toxic chemicals while being fluoridated; the effectiveness of fluoridation was not validated by any randomized controlled trial; and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had previously classified fluoride as an “unapproved new drug.”

*Original full-text article online at: https://www.hubcityspokes.com/local-content/petal-aldermen-accept-357k-bid-fluoride-water-system