A string of concern over the potentially-negative influence of fluoride in Village drinking water has been moving through Western Springs in recent weeks with the growing knowledge that the hard Well No. 4 water currently in circulation as the plant is being renovated contains 2.1 mg/L fluoride, enough to potentially cause fluorosis in children.

But while this knowledge has some residents purchasing home water filters, others have also begun to suggest that even after reverse-osmosis has become the Village water treatment du jour, fluorine should not be used as a post-treatment additive.

“In addition to the fluorisis concerns, there’s thyroid problems, kidney problems, lower IQs, bone issues that are all associated with ingesting fluoride,” said resident Marcy Rossi, who herself has a thyroid condition, holding a six-page list of communities that no longer treat water with a fluoride additive. “I would just ask what the process would be to look into this further before we start adding.”

Village Director of Municipal Services Matt Supert said that current long-term plans for water treatment do still involve re-fluorinating treated water post-blend to match USDA-recommended standards, but also that he and the Village were open to reconsidering.

“We can certainly look at other studies,” Supert said.

Fellow resident Annie Tandy also stepped forward to request that water-content reports be more timely, rationalizing that such data is of little use a year after the fact.

“I don’t think that I want to see the numbers for 2012 and 2013 after we already drank the water. We want to see the current information,” Tandy said. “Current data should be available to the public.”

While Supert and head of the Public Works and Water Committee Trustee Suzanne Glowiak noted that the regular testing that Public Works performs is less thorough than the more-expensive annual tests, they did also offer to begin releasing what data is available from the regular testing and comparing it against the expected norm.

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