Fluoride Scheduled to be Added to Water in Yorktown
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Fluoride is scheduled to be added to the water of about 40,000 residents in Yorktown—just not yet.
Residents had been notified by the Northern Westchester Joint Water Works (NWJWW) and town officials that fluoride would be part of the water supply for the first time since 2017 at the end of July.
However, the process has been delayed by a technical issue.
“We are awaiting an electrical component to integrate chlorine residual into our SCADA system. As soon as the component is received and all tests are satisfactorily performed, we will initiate fluoridation,” said Matthew Geho, director of operations for the NWJWW, who did not provide a timeframe.
NWJWW operates two treatment plants, one on Route 6 in Cortlandt that processes water from the New York City Catskill Aqueduct and one on Route 35 in Somers that processes water from the Amawalk Reservoir.
Yorktown Supervisor Ed Lachterman said last week his office had received about 70 phone calls and emails from residents expressing concerns about the fluoride, which newly elected Councilwoman Susan Siegel, who has been a vocal proponent of fluoride, maintained was misguided.
“The anti-fluoride people are like the anti-vaccine people,” Siegel remarked.
The water in Yorktown had fluoride for about 65 years when in Jan. 2013 the Yorktown Town Board agreed to pay for the necessary capital improvements at the Joint Water Works facility to maintain fluoridation after many local dentists and health professionals provided expert advice during an informational meeting at Town Hall. A petition signed by nearly 60 dentists and pediatricians supporting fluoridation was also submitted.
Four years later, fluoridation was halted when upgrades to the Catskill and Amawalk plants were required to meet more stringent health and safety requirements. Yorktown received a grant of $940,000 from the county Department of Health for the design and construction of the new fluoridation system, but the work was delayed by COVID, supply chain issues and other factors.
“There was one nightmare, one problem after another,” Siegel said.
Dr. Carl Tegtmeier, former Chairman of the New York State Dental Association Council on Dental Health Planning & Hospital Dentistry and a 43-year resident of Yorktown, has lobbied Yorktown officials for years to have fluoride returned to the town’s water supply.
He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called Community Water Fluoridation (CWF) “one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th Century.”
Tegtmeier noted evidence has shown the fluoride in water reduces tooth decay by 20 to 40 percent.
“Children who receive CWF received a lifetime gift of having less cavities than those without the fluoridation,” Tegtmeier stated in an email to Examiner Media. “In fact, research shows that fluoridation benefits the public of all ages including older adults who become susceptible to ‘root cavities’ that are difficult and expensive to repair.”
Tegtmeier stressed fluoride toothpaste alone doesn’t provide full protection against tooth decay.
“The water coming in from the Catskill and Amawalk reservoirs have a natural fluoride content of 0.4 parts per million (ppm), which is suboptimal for reducing decay,” he stated. “By raising the amount to 0.7 ppm, you get the optimal effects of fluoridation.”
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
