USA - Drinking water will be compromised
Drinking water will be compromised
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Kathryn Lucariello
EUREKA SPRINGS -- There is not much citizens who don't want fluoride in their drinking water can do now that Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has signed Act 197 into law, mandating fluoride for all water systems that serve 5,000 or more customers.
But at the Carroll-Boone Water District meeting April 21, Berryville resident Lisa Price-Backs asked the water board to use "a common sense approach to fluoride."
Price-Backs, who is an L.P.N., said she was at the meeting as a concerned citizen and not representing any group, although she is associated with the Clean Water Association of Carroll County and with Secure Arkansas.
She asked whether it would be possible to have a "moratorium" on fluoride.
"We need transparency and need to know what country of origin the fluoride is coming from and what is in the fluoride," she told the board during public comment.
Another attendee at the meeting said, "We understand the employees are against fluoride."
"We can't get into who's against it or not," said James Yates, board chairman. "Right now, there's a law."
The attendee asked whether the water district could decide not to use fluoride.
"We'd probably lose our jobs and there might be ramifications," Yates replied. "It's the law, we just don't have a choice."
At last count, the Carroll-Boone Water District served around 26,000 people, said office manager Jim Allison.
"It hasn't been updated, so we probably serve 29,000 to 30,000 since the census," he said.
All 12 water operator employees at Carroll-Boone are against fluoride, he has said in the past, and have gone to Little Rock to testify against its use.
On two occasions in the past, the issue came up at Carroll-Boone among the four founding member cities, who each have an equal vote on such issues. Harrison, Green Forest and Berryville councils all voted to add fluoride, but Eureka Springs passed the decision on to its voters, who rejected it both times, killing the action for the water district.
Brad Hammond, one of the water district's consulting engineers with McGoodwin, Williams & Yates, said they will look into how to comply with the law.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Kathryn Lucariello
EUREKA SPRINGS -- There is not much citizens who don't want fluoride in their drinking water can do now that Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has signed Act 197 into law, mandating fluoride for all water systems that serve 5,000 or more customers.
But at the Carroll-Boone Water District meeting April 21, Berryville resident Lisa Price-Backs asked the water board to use "a common sense approach to fluoride."
Price-Backs, who is an L.P.N., said she was at the meeting as a concerned citizen and not representing any group, although she is associated with the Clean Water Association of Carroll County and with Secure Arkansas.
She asked whether it would be possible to have a "moratorium" on fluoride.
"We need transparency and need to know what country of origin the fluoride is coming from and what is in the fluoride," she told the board during public comment.
Another attendee at the meeting said, "We understand the employees are against fluoride."
"We can't get into who's against it or not," said James Yates, board chairman. "Right now, there's a law."
The attendee asked whether the water district could decide not to use fluoride.
"We'd probably lose our jobs and there might be ramifications," Yates replied. "It's the law, we just don't have a choice."
At last count, the Carroll-Boone Water District served around 26,000 people, said office manager Jim Allison.
"It hasn't been updated, so we probably serve 29,000 to 30,000 since the census," he said.
All 12 water operator employees at Carroll-Boone are against fluoride, he has said in the past, and have gone to Little Rock to testify against its use.
On two occasions in the past, the issue came up at Carroll-Boone among the four founding member cities, who each have an equal vote on such issues. Harrison, Green Forest and Berryville councils all voted to add fluoride, but Eureka Springs passed the decision on to its voters, who rejected it both times, killing the action for the water district.
Brad Hammond, one of the water district's consulting engineers with McGoodwin, Williams & Yates, said they will look into how to comply with the law.
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