As the state of Utah and numerous cities end water fluoridation programs, the City of Houston, Texas has quietly become the largest city in the United States to halt the addition of fluoride to the water supply.
(The Last American Vagabond) According to newly obtained emails between Houston officials, and a confirmed statement from the Public Works Department, the City of Houston has not added fluoridation chemicals to the water supply since at least 2019. The reason for ending the water fluoridation program is currently unknown. Houstonians are still receiving low levels of naturally occurring fluoride from municipal water systems.
Approximately 2.5 million people live in the city of Houston, Texas, making it the most populated city in the state and the fourth most populous in the United States. The Greater Houston metro area is made up of numerous smaller towns, cities, and incorporated areas with a population of more than 7.5 million people.
The revelation that Houston has not added fluoride to the water supply for the last 5 years makes it the largest U.S. city to end the practice of water fluoridation. Houston’s water supply does still contain low levels of naturally occurring fluoride.
The new details were contained in a batch of emails released to The Last American Vagabond (TLAV) as part of an open records request.
In one email, dated October 16, 2024, Joni Synatschk, the Senior Division Manager of Houston’s Drinking Water Regulatory Compliance Programs, states,“City of Houston maintains the ability to feed fluoride at the surface and groundwater plants. However, due to the presence of naturally occurring levels within the service area, fluoride has not been actively fed into the system in the past five years.”
When reached by phone, Synatschk told TLAV, “The best I can tell you is, what I’ve been told, is that the last loads of fluoride we received was probably around 2018. That means it may have been added 2018 to 2019, maybe.” Synatschk said she was not her current position until 2021.
“I don’t think it was a formal decision,” she added.
The City of Houston has never publicly acknowledged they are not adding fluoride chemicals to the municipal water supply. It is a possibility the water fluoridation program was cut due to budget concerns as Houston continues to grapple with a $330 million dollar budget deficit.
An analysis of the City of Houston’s procurement contracts reveals a $5 million contract for hydrofluorosilicic acid ending January 23, 2019. Another contract for the same fluoridation chemicals was signed in April 2022, with the Houston City Council approving a $1,966,600.00 deal with Pencco. During the brief discussion on the Pencco contract former City Council member Michael Kubosh spoke against water fluoridation, noting that Houstonians had previously spoken against the practice.
“I don’t think it’s really helping to reduce tooth decay. Nations that don’t fluoridate their water have about the same results as the nations that do,” Kubosh said at the time.
Despite this $1.9 million dollar, 3-year contract with Pennco, water quality reports released by Houston Public Works between 2019 to 2023 consistently measure levels of fluoride lower than the .7 mg/L recommended by the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC). Measurements taken across east, north, and south Houston reveal fluoride between 0 and .4 mg/L.
This indicates that additional fluoride chemicals have not been added to the water supply since 2019. Fluoride is only present at low levels as a result of naturally occurring fluoride present in Texas water supplies.
This aligns with the naturally occurring fluoride levels mentioned by Synatschk. It is possible that Houston did indeed purchase fluoridation chemicals in 2022, decide not to add the hazardous waste to the water supply, but still “maintains the ability to feed fluoride at the surface and groundwater plants“, as stated by Synatschk.
Additional emails discuss the removal of fluoride from tanks in Kingwood, a city northeast of Houston which was annexed in 1994 and receives its water from the city. One email includes a presentation with two images highlighting the removal of fluoride from Kingwood’s tanks in January 2024. One of the images shows a city employee in a hazmat suit to protect their body from the hazardous effects of the fluoride chemicals.
The emails TLAV obtained also show that Houstonians had emailed city officials inquiring about the results of the federal fluoride lawsuit, and the conclusion of the National Toxicology Program which found fluoride is associated with lower IQ in children.
An email dated September 6, 2024 has a city employee asking colleagues about the Judge’s ruling in the federal lawsuit.
“What does this mean to us in the long run if EPA reduces the permissible levels or even bans the fluoridation of drinking water?,” the employee asks.
Another email shows a resident of Houston requesting to speak with someone from the city regarding new “high quality studies” indicating fluoride’s harms.
Houston’s History of Opposing Fluoridation
In the summer of 1980 the Houston City Council passed Ordinance No. 80-2530, mandating water fluoridation at 1 ppm. The ordinance came after a hard fought battle where proponents of water fluoridation, including Houston’s Public Health Director Dr. James Watson, faced off with groups like the Safe Water Foundation of Texas.
An article published in The Selma Times-Journal on May 13, 1979, discusses Houston’s controversial push to begin adding fluoride to the water supply. The article notes that an expert committee was formed by Houston officials to evaluate the issue and make a recommendation.
The article reports the 3 panel committee included Professor E.O. Bennett, University of Houston; Ronald L. Sass of Rice University; and John J. Session of Texas Southern University.
“The committee reported that it found several possible adverse effects of fluoridated water”, the Selma Times-Journal states. These adverse effects included skeletal fluorosis, fluoride allergies, difficulties for individuals suffering from kidney disease, and a reference to an increase in the growth of cancer cells in animals.
“The committee also reported that the level of fluoridation in the environment has been steadily increasing and that the long-range effects of fluoride on humans has not been established.”
The committee ultimately did not rule whether the city should or should not begin fluoridating, but did recommend alternative actions, including adding fluoride to the drinking water in public schools.
Shortly after the ordinance passed in 1980, the Safe Water Foundation of Texas filed a lawsuit against Houston seeking a permanent injunction against the water fluoridation program. By January 1982 the petition was denied in the 151st District Court in Harris County. A year later the Texas Court of Appeals also denied the case. The Texas Supreme Court declined to hear the case in early 1984.
Houston did not see another major effort to resist water fluoridation until the creation of the advocacy group Fluoride Free Houston in 2012. (Full Disclosure: I was a co-founder of FFH) From 2012 to 2016, FFH gathered support from multiple city council members, including former council member Michael Kubosh.
In the end, activism was not the catalyst for halting water fluoridation. While the reasons for the lack of fluoride in Houston’s water supply are currently unknown, the end result is that Houstonians are being exposed to fluoride at a lower rate than they were between 1980 and 2019.
Water Fluoridation Now a National Debate
The revelation that Houston, Texas is now the largest city not to add fluoride to the water in the United States comes as the topic of water fluoridation has become a national debate.
On Monday, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the EPA will “expeditiously review new scientific information on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water”. Kennedy also said he will tell the CDC to stop recommending community water fluoridation.
Kennedy made the statements while in Utah celebrating the recently passed bill to ban water fluoridation in the “The Beehive State”.
Florida also seems poised to ban water fluoridation with an upcoming vote in the state Senate. The state has seen numerous cities and counties ending their fluoridation programs over the last year.
In Miami-Dade County commissioners voted on April 1 to stop adding fluoride to their water. However, Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava has said fluoride is safe for human consumption. The Mayor has until Friday to decide if she will veto the measure.
If the anti-fluoride resolution holds, it will make Miami the second largest metro area to end water fluoridation, right behind Houston, Texas.
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