Fluoridation costs start at $2.5 million

Fluoridating Spokane’s drinking water would cost almost $2.5 million upfront and about $330,000 a year after that, according to a study commissioned by the city’s water department.

The study by independent engineering consultant CH2M HILL cost $25,000 and was paid for by the city.

For the first time, Spokane voters will have a detailed analysis of how fluoridation might be achieved technically with the city’s unusual water system and how much it might cost.

But spending tax money for a feasibility study before voters decide is wrong, said anti-fluoridation leader Betty Fowler.

“Why don’t they do a study and check out how many people have been hurt by fluoride? That would make sense to me,” said Fowler of the Safe Water Coalition of Washington State.

The issue will be on the ballot Nov. 2 if backers gather enough signatures and the City Council approves.

Spokane’s water contains a natural fluoride level of 0.2 parts per million. Fluoridation would bring the level to about 1 part per million, considered the ideal level for preventing dental cavities.

Spokane voters have rejected fluoridation three times: in 1969, 1984 and 2000.

Based on the study’s estimates of initial costs, the increase to each household’s water bill would be about $12 a year for three years. After that, customers would pay $4.80 a year more, said Brad Blegen, city water department director.

Spokane’s aquifer-based water system creates unusual challenges that make fluoridation more expensive than in cities that have one water treatment facility, said Jim Correll, Spokane manager of CH2M HILL, the international engineering services firm that produced the study.

Spokane has seven wells that pump water from the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer.

“It’s obviously feasible. The issue is one of cost,” Correll said. “And whether the expenditure is something the community is willing to accept.”

Nearly two-thirds of Americans drink fluoridated water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says fluoridation prevents tooth decay in children. But fluoride foes consider it an unwanted medication at best and a poison at worst.

The study found:

• The city would have to build at least six small storage facilities, each with a fire sprinkler system. The storage sheds at city wells would hold fluoridation equipment.

• Fluorosilicic acid, the city’s choice of three common fluoridation compounds, requires a less complicated feed system but must be handled with protective gear. It is a highly concentrated liquid acid and would be stored in tanks.

• Daily water sampling would be required to make sure fluoride levels are correct.

• The fluoride compound would corrode copper pipes, increasing copper in drinking water, but not to dangerous levels.

• One pump station near the Spokane River would require an environmental permit. Other sites would require either special use permits or an amendment to an existing special use permit.

• Some training for water system operators would be required.

City officials refused an offer of help paying for the study from fluoridation fans.

The idea to hire an outside consultant arose during a conversation between water department director Blegen and John Robideaux, chairman of the Fluoridation Works coalition. Blegen remembered saying that he wanted an independent study.

“We finally decided it would be best if (the city) paid for the study,” Blegen said Friday.

Robideaux said he talked to Mayor Jim West and offered to pay for half the study.

“The mayor said, no, we have the funds. We’d rather do the study,” Robideaux said.

“That gives them ownership. That just put a smile on my face. I was happy with that.”

The mayor wanted voters to have the information they need to make a decision, said city public affairs officer Marlene Feist.

The pro-fluoridation group needs 2,513 valid signatures before Aug. 2, Robideaux said.

The group has about 2,000 signatures so far. Signature gathering started in the offices of local dentists and doctors. Now the group is working storefronts in a final push for support, he said.