The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority in Escambia County soon will stop adding fluoride to its drinking water to comply with a new state law banning the mineral in public drinking water. ECUA board members will discuss their options for removal at their regular meeting this afternoon, beginning at 3.
With nearly 100,000 water customers, ECUA is the largest water utility in the region and one of the last that still uses fluoride.
For historical context, the utility has been adding fluoride to its water for nearly three decades, mandated by Escambia County voters.
“I believe it was 1998 when the referendum was done the last time,” said Vicki Campbell, board chairwoman. “They took it to the people and it was a heated discussion back then and it narrowly passed and they’ve been adding fluoride ever since.”
The referendum won approval with 58% of the vote. But, the fluoride issue has remained the subject of debate.
“We’ve always had speakers. You know, the first time I ran for the board somebody asked me about fluoride in the water,” stated Campbell. “So, it’s always been an issue that’s ongoing. “
The fluoride controversy revolves around its safety and effectiveness in preventing tooth decay versus potential negative health impacts, as well as the lack of individual freedoms and informed consent. The debate gained traction in Florida in November when the state’s Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, advised communities to stop fluoridating water.
“When it first came up this time, we had speakers come, we discussed it as a board, and we decided to move forward in the same way that ECUA moved forward in the last and moved towards a referendum,” explained Campbell. “And, we had already talked to the Supervisor of Elections to get it on the ballot as soon as possible, looked like that was gonna be 2026. And, we were moving that way. We were planning charrettes for the people to come and tell us what they felt. But, of course, fast-forward, SB-700 took that right out of our hands.”
In late April, lawmakers passed the Florida Farm Bill, which includes language that effectively bans governments from adding fluoride to its public water systems, even though the word fluoride is not specifically mentioned in the measure.
The part of the law that references fluoride reads:
- Prohibits the use of any additive to a public water supply that is not for the explicit purpose of improving water quality.
Signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month, the new law will take effect July 1.
As for ECUA’s current usage, Campbell says it’s in line with federal regulations.
“We follow EPA and CDC guidelines for fluoride at 0.7 (ppm),” she said. “We use around 750 gallons a week. The cost is about $340,000 a year.”
Half the total cost, about $190,000, is spent just purchasing the chemical.
The remaining cost is in operations, including pump and tank maintenance and occasional replacement, as well as equipment and fuel for delivery to the wells each month. That money saved will now be spent on the granular, active carbon filters used to remove PFAS chemicals, including PFOA and PFOS, in the water.
When passage of the fluoride ban moved closer to reality, Campbell says staff has recently offered some guidance for members of the board to consider as initial steps toward compliance.
“They’re recommendation has been to not order any more fluoride and to use the fluoride that we have in-house, so that we’re not wasting money,” she said, adding that the utility has not ordered any more fluoride. “Currently, we have about three weeks of fluoride left.”
The ECUA board is expected to make their plans official at their meeting today.
“We’ll vote to either end it immediately and dispose of that fluoride, to continue until we’ve used up the three weeks of fluoride, or to order more fluoride and to take care of this when the law goes into effect,” said Campbell. “So, I think that will be the three choices that we have.”
Moving forward, even though the chemical will no longer be added to the water, Campbell says she hopes the board will continue to sample for it.
“On a personal level for me, I’d like to see us continue to monitor any levels of fluoride, just to keep an eye and make sure we went the right way,” she stated. “We’ll see where we are ten years from now.”
Around Northwest Florida, the City of Niceville stopped adding fluoride in January of this year, while many other local water utilities removed fluoride a long time ago or never used it. Such is the case for the Okaloosa County Water and Sewer department, which serves over 70,000 residential customers, and never added fluoride to its water.
In Santa Rosa — from Holley Navarre to Milton, and Pace — all of the larger providers have confirmed that they do not add fluoride to their public drinking water.
