RIDGELAND—After a motion to discontinue treating the city’s water supply with fluoride failed, city officials will begin restoring treatment infrastructure that has been dormant since 2020.
Initial cost estimates to restore the system are around $200,000. Public Works Director Alan Hart said his office has begun their assessment.
“We are actively working to identify the costs associated with the equipment replacement in order to restart the service,” Hart said.
Current estimated yearly costs for maintaining the system could be between $60,000 and $100,000, city officials said.
Further action from aldermen will be necessary as the project takes shape.
“There will need to be upcoming items on the agenda to approve next steps,” Hart said.
A motion to discontinue the treatment process failed after only three city Aldermen voted in favor. Aldermen Chuck Gautier, D.I. Smith and Wesley Hamlin voted to discontinue. Aldermen Kevin Holder, Ken Heard, Bill Lee and Brian Ramsey voted against the motion proposed by Hamlin and seconded by Gautier.
Heard said the issue was probably one of the biggest decisions to come before the city board in his 25 years as an alderman. He even offered his own money toward the project.
“I pledge $1,000 to get going,” Heard said, waving his personal checkbook.
The vote was taken after a public hearing.
About nine people signed up to speak. Four were in favor of discontinuing the treatment with the controversial chemical. Five spoke in favor of restoring the fluoride treatment system.
Fluoride became difficult to procure due to complications related to the shutdowns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and the city has not been able to treat the city’s water supply with fluoride for over three years now. Hart said the decision came before the board because fluoride is now readily available to the municipality.
The city began the process in December. In June state health officials gave the board a presentation on the benefits of fluoride.
Ridgeland claims to be in the “top five percent” of water systems in Mississippi. The city serves about 24,000 customers with water. Ridgeland’s water source comes from deep-water supply wells in the Cockfield and Sparta aquifers.
A review of the city’s drinking water, conducted in 2025, returned a perfect score.
Original article online at: https://www.onlinemadison.com/news/ridgeland-moves-to-restore-water-fluoridation-system-after-vote-to-discontinue-fails-ec8c84ad