USA - YEAR IN THE MIRROR: First fluoride salvo fired in 2015

Andy Anderson (from left), Don West and Winton McInnis discuss the issue of fluoridation during a meeting of the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority board on Dec. 17 at Western Grove City Hall.Fluoride was a hot topic in 2015, and the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority fought a year-long battle against the Arkansas Department of Health over a requirement to fluoridate its water system.
Act 197, which was passed by the state legislature in 2011, mandates that water systems with over 5,000 customers must add fluoride to their water supplies.
The water authority supplies water from Bull Shoals Lake to 18 water systems in Boone, Newton and Searcy counties. The Department of Health had given the water authority until the end of the year to say if it meant to comply with the mandate.
At a special meeting on Dec. 17, the water authority board of directors agreed to take the issue to court. The board’s contention was that the authority was exempt from Act 197. The authority was a wholesaler that had only 18 customers, those water systems it supplied. None of those 18 systems, the board said, had 5,000 customers.
The board also said that many of its customers signed on before the law went into effect, and if fluoridation was done, they might pull out. Fewer customers would make it more difficult for the water authority to pay off its debts.
Authority board members estimated the legal fees to be at least $12,000.
Representatives from the Department of Health appeared at an authority board meeting, which was attended by several dozen people. During the often contentious meeting, Health Department officials attempted to explain why fluoridation would be a good thing.
Officials and customers of the authority remained solidly against fluoridation. The court challenge could be the first step in a process to challenge the entire law.