This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
It was brought to the city council’s attention by city staff on Tuesday that the city of Longmont is having difficulty finding a supplier of appropriate minerals to Fluorinate the water supply to the recommended 0.7mg/L level. The last mine in the United States that supplied Sodium Fluoride has ceased operations and domestic supplies have been affected accordingly.
There is a mine in Belgium that can supply minerals of an acceptable quality however that supply is limited in output. As a result, Longmont will continue to fluorinate to the recommended 0.7mg/L when the supplies are available. That said Longmont naturally has a 0.2mg/L of fluoride in its water supply so we will not be without some fluoride in our drinking water during the periods that our local supplies of a quality sodium silica fluoride are low.
City staff said they are looking into other sources for the appropriate minerals and looking at other technologies for adding fluoride to drinking water and will keep the city appraised as the situation develops.
CDC recommendation for fluorination of water https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4547570/?report=classic
