A Soddy Daisy utility company taking a chemical out of their water. The company is the first in Hamilton County to make the move.

Fluoride will no longer pump into the system at the North West Utility District water treatment plant in Soddy Daisy starting July 25.

“It’s not required by state or federal law that we put fluoride in the water,” manager David Collett says.

Collett says it was costing about $20,000 dollars a year to put the chemical in the water and maintain the pipes it goes through.

“Fluoride is not the sole reason for building a new plant but fluoride is one of the causes for some of the parts failing and having to repair,” he said.

But, the removal does not come without controversy.

Dr. Brian Schenck represented the Chattanooga Area Dental society at a series of meetings, pushing the importance of fluoride for dental heath, especially in children.

“I definitely think it should be in the drinking water,” Schneck said. “Fluoride that comes from the drinking water is systemic and comes up to the teeth and is deposited throughout the entire tooth rather than on a surface like toothpaste. That makes a significant difference.”

The issue even showed up on change.org with petitioners asking the utility to ditch fluoride because of possible health risks.

In a statement, Chiesa Smith, a member of a group called the TN Citizens For Safe Drinking Water, said:

I greatly appreciate the NWUD water board members carefully weighing all the information on both sides of this controversial issue and deciding to cease the addition of hydrofluorosilicic acid to the water supply. It has well been established that hydrofluorosilicic acid (HFSA) is a hazardous waste by-product of the mining industry, each batch often containing varying amounts of lead and arsenic, none of which are approved to be safe, nor effective, for human consumption. Why contaminate high quality drinking water with hydrofluorosilicic acid and it’s known contaminants when other abundant, higher grade sources of fluoride remain available through toothpaste, mouthwash, and dental-fluoride treatments, all of which we do NOT swallow? Also, are we honestly interested in the health and well-being of our children when we take the cheapest industrial man-made toxic waste fluoride we can find, and dump it into our children’s drinking water? Even the CDC’s Oral Health Division now acknowledges fluorides main benefit comes from topical contact with teeth, not from ingestion. Furthermore, the FDA has never approved any fluoride containing supplements for ingestion. Our home is at the bottom of a large hill, which in turn accumulates a higher concentration of chemicals. When tested, the tap water right out of our faucet tested at an extremely high level of fluoride, proving further to me, there is no way to regulate these contaminants to an optimal level. It is fundamentally wrong to promote the so called benefits while ignoring the many health risks of an outdated policy.

The final decision was made after that series of meetings.

“Both sides were taken into consideration and I feel like our commissioners did due diligence in going through the process to make that decision,” Collett said.

Now, Dr. Schenck says over the next five years, he expects to see 25 percent more cavities in the people drinking NW Utility’s water unless they take further steps to protect their teeth.

“The recommendation is to see a dentist and see about supplementing orally fluoride to replace what they would have gotten in the water,” he said.

Though the fluoride will not be put in the water starting in 4 days, Collett says construction on the new water treatment plant will begin sometime next spring.

See original article which doesn’t note the day it was published in July.