DeForest prepares to reintroduce fluoride to its water after protracted controversy

DeForest is preparing to reintroduce fluoride to its water supply after trustees voted nearly a year ago to stop adding that mineral.

The action follows a protracted controversy that inflamed local politics in the village of some 12,000 people.

Fluoride can be naturally present in drinking water, and many communities in the U.S. add fluoride to their water supply to maintain levels that are ideal for preventing tooth decay.

Fluoride strengthens teeth, which helps stop cavities. For that reason, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously celebrated water fluoridation as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.

But fears about the effects of fluoride in water supplies have been spreading for decades in communities across the country, including DeForest. And U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is among those promoting false information about fluoride.

Last February, DeForest trustees voted 4-3 to stop adding fluoride to the village’s water supply. This week, trustees took another step toward reversing that decision.

The board voted 5-2 on Tuesday night to direct village staff to prepare a resolution that would rescind the prior anti-fluoride resolution. Trustees are expected to approve the new resolution during a meeting next month. After that, it will likely take several months before added fluoride is re-introduced to the water, Village Administrator Bill Chang wrote in an email to WPR.

DeForest’s about-face on fluoride comes after the village board’s makeup shifted, and two new trustees took office.

In September, DeForest residents voted by a wide margin to boot anti-fluoride Trustee Bill Landgraf from office partway through his two-year term.

Organizers of the recall election said they were taking action against Landgraf not only because of his vote to de-fluoridate the water. Instead, organizers said the controversy over fluoride had highlighted what they called Landgraf’s “unprofessional” conduct and a pattern of retaliating against residents who disagreed with him.

Voters chose Alicia Williams to replace Landgraf on the board. During her campaign, Williams said she favored revisiting the fluoride issue so that residents could give more input.

Days after the recall election, another anti-fluoride trustee Rebecca Witherspoon resigned from the board, citing the recent death of her husband as well as what she referred to as an “alarming turn” in the local political climate. In October, trustees appointed Brad Cords to replace her.

In November, trustees asked village staff to research what it would take to re-fluoridate the water.

Although the project still needs to go out for bid, village staff expect it could cost between $205,000 to $245,000 to add fluoride village-wide.

DeForest’s water supply comes from two systems — what’s known as the North System and the Token Creek System on the village’s south side. Previously, DeForest only introduced fluoride through its North System and not the less modernized Token Creek System. Now, the village is looking to add fluoride to both those systems, and the estimated price tag reflects that.

The cost estimate also includes infrastructure upgrades that are recommended by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

This week, Trustees Williams, Cords, Jane Cahill Wolfgram, Colleen Little and Jan Steffenhagen-Hahn voted to move forward with the re-fluoridation resolution. Trustees Taysheedra Allen and Jim Simpson voted against.

Before the vote, DeForest resident Joe Disch urged trustees to keep added fluoride out of the water.

“I think it should be an individual decision,” Disch said. “I don’t think that it should be forced on everyone.”

Another resident, Marc Storch, thanked trustees for revisiting the topic.

“I ask you tonight to begin the process of changing a decision that was made because we know better now,” Storch said.

Storch said the anti-fluoride vote came up again and again while he was gathering signatures for the recent recall election.

He added, “I can tell you from my own personal experience walking the village during the recall effort, how many residents said, ‘What the heck happened with fluoride?’”