Take it out, then put it back

I called the Aurora, Illinois Water Production Department (February 13, 2012). Archibald* tells me that the processing our water undergoes actually removes fluoride. Therefore, they have to add it back in order to meet government guidelines. In the "Water Quality Report 2010" we see that fluoride content is 1.0 PPM (Parts per million).  Archibald  tells me that the figure today is 1.2 PPM and that they add 0.55 to 0.6 to bring our water up to the required level, which is 0.92 to 1.2 PPM.

The "Water Quality Report 2010" demonstrates that Aurora processes up to 36.5 million gallons per day. That's 131.4 million liters. If they add 0.5mg per liter, that works out to 145 pounds per day, or 53,000 pounds per year. At about $1,000 per ton, we're likely spending over $50,000 per year to add sodium fluoride to our drinking water.

There is reportedly fluoride in both well water and river water.  Archibald  stated that the river fluoride surprised him, but there it is. I can offer a suggestion about how fluoride gets into the wells and the river. We've been dumping treated water into our water supply for decades. It doesn't go away, but accumulates.

I am not criticizing the Water Production Department. They are doing what they are told to do.  Still, I will be making it a priority to disclose the fluoride problem in our water and gather public support for a change in laws that require us to add such a toxic substance to the water.

Fluoride is a a chemical substance we rarely think about when we are evaluating all of the potentially harmful substances we consume every day. Maybe we OUGHT TO think about it. I did and I now have a reverse osmosis (RO) filtration system in my home that removes fluoride. Our RO system is from Pure Water Products. It cost $197.00 and took about ten minutes to install. We do not have a storage tank unit, but filling a jug is easy and we get a gallon in 35 minutes.I also have a chlorine filter on my shower head. We purchased it from Aquasana and we signed up for the automatic shipment -a new filter arrives every three months.



* Archibald  is not the name I was given on the phone. I made it up to protect the innocent.