The court battle over fluoride use by Birmingham’s regional water utility is over.
A Jefferson County judge late Monday ruled that Central Alabama Water may continue with its plans to end water fluoridation, over the objections of the city of Birmingham which sued the utility March 27.
The ruling from Judge Frederic Bolling comes after a hearing and an extension to let the city present additional evidence in their efforts to force the utility to restore fluoride use.
“It is an absolute shame that this issue cannot be otherwise worked out,” Bolling wrote. “My disappointment aside, the law on this matter is relatively simple.”
Bolling indicated his support for fluoride, a mineral additive that is used to promote dental health, but said he has no legal basis to force the utility to continue fluoridating water.
Rather than a malicious disregard for the law, Bolling said Central Alabama Water had violated the required notice by being “clumsy” when it gave a public announcement before completing the official state notification.
“Upon review of the evidence and the actual procedures taken, the press release was clumsy because it should have simply alerted the public that it had submitted the required notice to the State Health Officer of an intent to cease fluoridation within ninety days,” he wrote. “However, upon complete review of the circumstances and the evidence, the Court finds that Central Alabama Water’s violation of the law was a technical violation that is attributable to an incomplete press release and not any intent to violate the law.”
They argued that the issue went beyond a technical violation but instead reflected a broader failure by the utility to maintain its system and protect public health.
The city blamed CAW and its current leadership for what they describe as a breakdown in both operations and public trust.
“… Defendants’ hands are unclean (if not filthy), and they must not be allowed to point the fingers on those unclean hands everywhere else except at themselves,” the city wrote in its last filing.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin was critical of Central Alabama Water’s decision and accused its leaders of making political moves with indifference to public health.
Still, Bolling said the city gave no evidence that would lead to him legally ordering the utility to resume using fluoride after it gave proper notice.
In court, water utility attorney Shan Paden said each of the four plants that serve the system had malfunctioned over the years which would cost millions to repair.
“They were at their end of life,” he said of equipment that has been used since 1980.
“These fluoride systems are highly corrosive. Maintaining them is extremely hard.”
Both in court and in his order, Bolling criticized the former utility’s leadership, saying that money spent on legal fees could have been better spent by fixing malfunctioning fluoride infrastructure.
“The total value of the contracts awarded by the previous board on the final day of existence of the Birmingham Water Works Board could easily cover the estimated $3.7 million cost of repairing and upgrading the water system’s outdated and inoperable fluoride delivery infrastructure,” Bolling wrote.
While celebrated as a health achievement, fluoride in recent years has become a politically charged issue.
“As a parent of three young children and a mentor and coach to hundreds, I am very disappointed that this matter had to come before me,” Bolling wrote Monday. “I am encouraged by the fact that it does not appear that the decision to discontinue fluoridation is spurred on by the anti–science movement and alternate reality culture that seems to prioritize feelings over facts; however, the disappointment for this court comes from the fact that my hometown seems to be caught in a place where the leaders can’t disagree without cutting off all communication.”
