RE: Fluoride Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL) Violation

Our routine fluoride water testing on April 17, 2001, continues to show that we have naturally occurring fluoride in our drinking water exceeding the EPA’s established Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL) of 2.0 mg/l. This test result requires us to reissue a public notice at this time. You also receive the same public notice in the yearly drinking water quality report.
This public notice has been in effect for at least ten years and will continue to be issued annually for as long as the violation exists.

The following is “mandatory wording” required by the EPA concerning this violation. You may contact us, or the state health department, or the EPA with any additional questions that you have.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Dear User,

The United States Environmental Protection agency requires that we send you this notice on the level of fluoride in your drinking water. The drinking water in your community has a fluoride concentration of 3.31 milligrams per liter(mg/l).

Federal regulations require that fluoride, which occurs naturally in your water supply not exceed a concentration of 4.0 mg/l in drinking water. This is an enforceable standard called a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), and has been established to protect the public health. Exposure to drinking water levels above 4.0mg/l for many years may result in some cases of crippling skeletal fluorosis, which is a serious bone disorder.

Federal law also requires that we notify you when monitoring indicates that the fluoride in your drinking water exceeds 2.0 mg/l. This is intended to alert families about dental problems that might affect children under nine years of age. The fluoride concentration of your drinking water exceeds this federal guideline.

Fluoride in children’s drinking water at levels of approximately 1 mg/l reduces the number of dental cavities. However, some children exposed to levels of fluoride greater than about 2.0 mg/l may develop dental fluorosis. Dental fluorosis, in its moderate and severe forms, is a brown staining and/or pitting of the permanent teeth.

Because dental fluorosis occurs only when developing teeth (before they erupt from the gums) are exposed to elevated fluoride levels, households without children are not expected to be affected by this level of fluoride. Families with children under the age of nine are encouraged to seek other sources of drinking water for their children to avoid the possibility of staining and pitting.

Your water supplier can lower the fluoride in your water so that you still receive the benefits of cavity prevention while the possibility of stained and pitted teeth is minimized. Removal of fluoride may increase your water cost. Treatment systems are also commercially available for home use. Information on such systems is available at the address given below. Low fluoride bottled drinking water that would meet all standards is also commercially available.