Fluoride in the water: Some on McHenry City Council question its presence in city system

Some members of the McHenry City Council have questioned the presence of fluoride in the city’s drinking water.

At the Dec. 2 McHenry City Council meeting, Alderman Michael Koch, 6th Ward, suggested the city consider removing the mineral from the city’s water system.

“I wanted to bring up about the fluoride in the water,” Koch said. “It may sound silly, but is there a mandate that we have to have fluoride in our drinking water?”

Illinois is one of 12 states that mandates fluoride is added to the water system if the naturally occurring fluoride is less than 0.7 mg per liter, said Russ Adams, the city’s wastewater superintendent and the acting public works director.

“It is a state mandate on all public drinking supplies” in the state, with a recommendation of fluoride levels between 0.7 and 0.9 mg per liter," Adams said, adding that it’s “per a ... [U.S.] Health and Human Services recommendation. The U.S. government does not require it, it is a state mandate.”

The Illinois Department of Public Health calls water fluoridation “one of the ten most important achievements of Public Health” on its website, adding that the “Division of Oral Health works closely with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to monitor community water safety, provide education and technical expertise to the water supply operators in order to keep fluoride levels optimal.”

Possible effects of too much fluoride has been debated in the past, then came to a head this summer when a U.S. government study released in August indicated high levels of exposure to fluoride, a naturally-occurring mineral, can lead to lower IQ in kids.

The state’s regulated fluoride concentration is less than half of the 1.5 mg per liter to which the National Toxicology Program study referred to. The study also notes there was insufficient data to determine if the 0.7 mg per liter recommended has any affect on children IQs.

But the 0.7 to 0.9 Adams referred to “to me it seems a little high for fluoride in the water,” Koch said. “You get fluoride in your toothpaste and mouthwash; I don’t see where everyone else has to have fluoride.

“It seems like a hindrance to everybody involved,” Koch added. “I don’t know exactly the reasons ... drinking this fluoridated water, breaking down of your immune system. I want to get rid of it,” Koch said.

Koch may to be referring to another study from the journal Frontiers in Immunology and found on the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine Website. That study states: “Excessive fluoride intake in water may induce immunosuppression, decreasing the number of immune cells and damaging the immune function of the thymus.” That study refers to levels in excess of 2.4 mg for children 8 to 16 years that it said “may lead to ... adverse health effects. Those levels are notably higher than what’s in the local water systems.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed secretary of Health and Human Services, has also proposed removing fluoride from drinking water in the U.S.

At least three other alderman agreed with Koch, with Frank McClatchey, 3rd Ward, saying he believed fluoridation caused “more harm than good.”

Alderman Andy Davis, 5th Ward, who participated in the meeting via phone due to illness, said he was “on board with reducing that also if it is an option.”

Alderman Andy Glab, 2nd Ward, suggested the City Council consider a resolution to send on “to our state senator” adding that the issue “needs to be taken to the proper authorities which would be the state.”

Adding fluoride to McHenry’s water costs about $9,000 a year, Adams said. A state fine for not adding the mineral would cost more than that and that the city does test to ensure proper fluoride levels, he added.

Mayor Wayne Jett said in a text to the Northwest Herald following the meeting that he would not recommend a future resolution regarding fluoride in the water, either to remove the mineral or send it on to McHenry’s delegation in Springfield - be added to an agenda now because “two people made a comment” at a meeting. “I am reaching out to a group of mayors to discuss this further,” Jett said of the issue.