Expressing support for HB81 that would eliminate fluoride from Utah water systems, the Riverton City Council unanimously passed a resolution in February to formalize that support. 

The bill, brought forward during the recent legislative session and sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, prohibits the introduction of fluoride into public drinking water systems. 

Salt Lake and Davis counties still add fluoride to their water streams and officials in Riverton worked on a resolution with what they hoped would be simple language of general support. 

Mayor Trent Staggs said there’s “questionable benefit” in adding fluoride from both a health and financial position. 

“Why are we spending money putting this into our water stream,” he said during a February council meeting. 

Councilmember Andy Pierucci, who serves on the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District board, added the expense to do this “is just an unnecessary cost that is just being flushed down the drain daily across the county and in our city.” 

Officials referenced the incident which occurred in Sandy in 2019, when a power outage enabled a concentrated amount into their water stream. 

“That imbalance introduced a mass quantity of fluoride,” City Attorney Ryan Carter told the council. “That goes downstream, it starts eating lead, eating copper and starts corroding the metal pipes and then you ingest that as well as everything else. 

“Sometimes those things are not understood to have taken place until well after the fact.” 

Officials were quick to point out how the issue is also a matter of personal choice. 

“If you’re being medicated it should be their choice so I am happy to support this,” Councilmember Tawnee McCay said. 

Carter said, like many others, his mother gave him small fluoride tablets at breakfast every morning growing up. 

“I am not an enemy of fluoride, but this is not the method I would choose.” 

Under the bill by Gricius, prescriptions for fluoride would still be allowed at pharmacies without requiring a doctor or dental visit. 

Some dentists spoke against the bill when it was presented before the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee highlighting the health benefits noting the inclusion of fluoride leads to less fillings, less cavities and stronger teeth. 

After the council passed the resolution, Staggs expressed his pleasure at the city being the first to support the bill in a statement. 

“I believe it reflects the sentiments of Riverton residents and the concerns over continuing to add fluoride,” he said. 

He instructed public works to suspend fluoridating culinary water in city owned water systems as soon as the bill passed. 

“Regardless of fluoride’s purported health benefits, Utahns and their families should be able to choose for themselves whether and how to apply it,” Staggs said. λ