In About A Week, Fluoride Will No Longer Be Added To ECUA Water

May 28, 2025

In an estimated week to 10 days, there will no longer be fluoride in the water from the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority.

During a Tuesday meeting, the board voted to not purchase any more fluoride ahead of the state mandated removal of fluoride from public drinking water by July 1.

ECUA Executive Director Bruck Woody said just over 1,000 gallons of fluoride are stored at well locations throughout the utility’s system, and it is used at a rate of about 750 gallons a week.

“It’s just over a week’s supply,” he said.

“By my calculations…based on our current consumption, we would have to order more fluoride if we chose to continue adding it up to the July 1st deadline,” District 5 board member Kevin Stephens commented, and Woody agreed. “I think that would be insane.”

Stephens made a motion to not purchase any more fluoride after existing stock is gone.

“It doesn’t make sense for us to go and purchase more,” Perkins said. “We exhaust our supply and then follow the spirit as well as the letter of the law.”

Board member Louis Benson said ECUA should conduct public outreach to educate consumers how to fluoridate their own teeth. Perkis said he would not want ECUA to circumvent the state law.

Comments

26 Responses to “In About A Week, Fluoride Will No Longer Be Added To ECUA Water”

  1. Resident X on June 1st, 2025 2:33 pm

    Growing up with fluoride in the drinking water made no difference for me. Unfortunately, I am missing 3 teeth and have a mouth full of fillings. Growing up my parents were too busy with their drama and addictions to ensure my dental health and understanding would have a positive outcome. My dental health is my biggest regret in life and now that I have young kids you can bet that I am ensuring they learn to take care of their teeth. Flossing and brushing with fluoride toothpaste also refraining from so much candy. Your blood sugar level and the sugar on your teeth also affect your dental health. I see no problem removing fluoride from drinking water as it’s not in water from nature. Much of today’s dental issues are from all the sugary snacks we have all become addicted to from the pumped-up sugar content.

  2. just a fact on May 30th, 2025 9:28 am

    Fluoride in water was never about teeth.

  3. Mike on May 29th, 2025 3:29 pm

    Filtration is not going to remove fluoride ions F- from water. So, if the water is fluorinated, it will have a positive effect on your teeth whether it it is filtered or not. Filtration through activated carbon can remove organic contaminants like chloroform etc.

  4. Chris on May 29th, 2025 1:52 pm

    @Duncan Mckochinner

    1. a LOT of people still drink unfiltered tap water.
    2. fluoride is not lost during the cooking process and is still absorbed by your teeth when eating products cooked with fluoridated water. We have been using fluoride and researching its’ effects since 1940s and after only 10 years there was a 60% reduction in cavities.

    When looking at the reasons for starting this process, it is a no brainer to continue doing so, it actually makes perfect sense. Using our tax dollars ($3.00/person annually) to greatly decrease dental care costs ($20 for every $1 invested in fluoridization) is a much better investment than what you propose.

  5. Kane on May 29th, 2025 11:26 am

    Cool, cool remove the fluoride but leave the chloroform and cyanide that ECUA’s study confirmed is in the water great choice.

  6. S Armstrong on May 29th, 2025 11:16 am

    All those comments about how important is is to have floride in our water supply, do you not brush and floss?
    I stopped using floride years ago, and yes, I have all my teeth, no cavities, no gum disease.
    If you feel that floride is an important part of dental health, by all means, have at it!

  7. Duncan Mckochinner on May 29th, 2025 3:25 am

    How does putting fluoride in the public water supply help peoples teeth?
    Ask yourself this simple question with the following context:
    1. Who drinks unfiltered tap water?
    2. How does fluoride help when its primarily being used to bathe in and cook with?

    Its a no brainer, this crap makes zero sense. It would be significantly more worth it to encourage brushing and advance dental technology.

    Kinda like selling you diet coke with aspartame instead of just encouraging you to work out and eat under maintenance calories to lose weight.

  8. Well on May 29th, 2025 12:59 am

    @EdM
    You got it !

  9. George on May 28th, 2025 6:38 pm

    Just buy fluoride toothpaste and brush twice a day and floss, you’ll be alright.

  10. JJ on May 28th, 2025 5:15 pm

    @Wow what
    Floride is to protect those young kids that dental care was a luxery . The cost of floride far out weighed the cost of under priviledge kids dental costs in this country

    @ John
    I didnt have a cavity since 15(1965) thats along time ago. Thats 60 years ago since floride has been in water

  11. Fluoride on May 28th, 2025 4:13 pm

    @alex

    In 2021 the Escambia county region used 80 million gallons of water a day per state data, so that would equal around 1.33 parts per million. The typical US range is 0.7 to 1.2 ppm. Assuming water usage increased, that puts us within typical ranges.

  12. Chris on May 28th, 2025 1:24 pm

    Jason, why remove it ASAP? I just cannot seem to understand this movement.

  13. EdM on May 28th, 2025 12:48 pm

    I’m good, long as we get to keep our lead, arsenic, nitrates, PFAS, and radon.

  14. good on May 28th, 2025 12:11 pm

    It’s about time. flouride should have never been part of our drinking water in the first place.

  15. Mommac on May 28th, 2025 10:53 am

    Finally!!! If you are opposed to this, you need to do some research. Try searching on YouTube!

  16. John on May 28th, 2025 10:47 am

    @wow. Some research would be beneficial here. My wife grew up on well water, with no fluoride, and never had a cavity until she was in her 20’s. So, it all comes down to brushing and flossing.

  17. Kel on May 28th, 2025 10:35 am

    @Resident of course not lol. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see them charge more for this “purer water”. Apparently, it costs less than $1 per person a year to add fluoride to the water supply.

  18. Chris Jones on May 28th, 2025 10:34 am

    So glad I moved away. The CDC (an agency who’s purpose is to protect public health and safety) declared community water fluoridation one of the 20th century’s greatest public health achievements. But go ahead and remove the fluoride from your water and ignore all the scientists who are way smarter than you. The data over the next twenty years will show what a phenomenal screwup this decision was.

  19. Mike on May 28th, 2025 10:20 am

    The amount of fluoride added to water is about 0.7 parts per million. That means 0.7 lbs of fluoride per 1 000 000 lbs or 120 000 G water. This amounts to 0.0044 lbs (2 g) of fluoride per 750 G water.

  20. Alex on May 28th, 2025 9:27 am

    What is the ratio of floride to our water if 750 gallons added per well. What is the well output?

  21. Wow what? on May 28th, 2025 9:26 am

    @wow… you really need to research fluoride and the origin source…since when is ECUA responsible for dental health? Their responsibility is clean water. People don’t realize you bathe, shower, cook your food, bathe your children & pets, etc. Look it up in the NIOSH Guide. Research everything instead of scrolling TikTok, FB, etc. Educate your mind, expand your knowledge.

  22. Toothbrush on May 28th, 2025 8:29 am

    Love to hear the people who never brush their teeth talk about fluoride in the water. Just brush your teeth and problem solved.

  23. JJ on May 28th, 2025 8:29 am

    @Jason
    I am 75 and for floride
    I have never lost a tooth and cant remember when the dentist used a drill on me. We are making a mistake on removing what th 1960s proved to be beneficial

  24. Resident on May 28th, 2025 6:11 am

    So does this mean our bills will go down? No longer having to pay for fluoride, and employees time to maintain the equipment that puts it our water.

  25. wow on May 28th, 2025 4:59 am

    Say goodbye to your teeth. Fluoride is there for a reason.

  26. Jason on May 28th, 2025 12:29 am

    Why until the supply is exhausted. Go ahead and remove it ASAP.