Fort Smith gets water-fluoridation grant

City has 18-month deadline to carry out project, utilities director says

FORT SMITH -- Fort Smith has lined up a grant for $1.8 million to buy and install equipment necessary to fluoridate its water system, which serves 160,000 people. The process is expected to be finished in the spring of 2016.

The city directors passed a resolution Aug. 19 authorizing Mayor Sandy Sanders to enter into an agreement with Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation for the grant.

City utilities director Steve Parke said that once the mayor signs the agreement in mid-September, the city will have 18 months to design the project, construct small buildings and install equipment, and start fluoridating the water at its two water treatment plants.

He said last week that the schedule will be tight to beat the 18-month deadline because the only designs that have been made so far have been conceptual. If the city doesn't get the fluoridation equipment up and running within 18 months, it risks losing the grant money, he said.

The city directors are expected to consider hiring the engineering firm Burns and McDonnell of Kansas City, Mo., at their meeting today to do the design work, Parke said.

The work will consist of constructing a small building at each water treatment plant to house the pumping and storage equipment, which will have to be purchased and installed.

The fluoridation will go to more than Fort Smith residents. Fort Smith sells water to 13 outside water users, most of them in Crawford County, plus Winslow in Washington County, the Franklin-Sebastian Public Water Authority and the Arkoma, Okla., Municipal Authority.

Fort Smith is fluoridating its water under Act 197 of 2011 that requires all municipal water systems with 5,000 or more customers to fluoridate their water without using taxpayer dollars.

Fort Smith is the largest water system being required to fluoridate under the act, according to information released by Delta Dental. Hot Springs is the next-largest system with 100,000 customers. Hot Springs has been approved for a grant of nearly $350,000 to fluoridate its water, but its fluoridation process has not been completed.

Jeff Stone, director of the Arkansas Health Department's engineering section, said Pulaski County's water has been fluoridated for decades. And the Beaver Water District has been fluoridating the water for most Northwest Arkansas users since 1996.

Realizing the effect fluoridation has on the dental health of Arkansans, Delta Dental committed $6 million to pay the reasonable startup costs of adding fluoride to the water systems, according to Delta Dental.

According to its website, Delta Dental is a nonprofit corporation that supports several programs to improve oral health in Arkansas. It contributes more than $1 million annually to dental treatment, prevention and education initiatives.

Stone said the fluoridation process was being driven by Delta Dental's generosity in providing grants for fluoridation. He said making the improvements to accommodate fluoridation in a water system is expensive. It will take time to complete the fluoridation of the more than 30 municipal water systems required to fluoridate under Act 197.

He said he was satisfied with the progress that was being made so far and that the Health Department will continue to engage in the grant approval process and provide technical assistance to Delta Dental and the water systems.

According to information released by Delta Dental, 61 percent of Arkansans have fluoridated water. If all of the more than 30 municipal water systems required under Act 197 add fluoride to their water supplies, the fluoridation rate will increase to 87 percent.

Ten water systems have completed the fluoridation process since passage of Act 197, according to Delta Dental: Batesville, De Queen, Dumas, Hickory Ridge, Magnolia, Mena, Paron, Russellville, Warren and Yorktown, using grant money totaling nearly $861,000.

Another 16 community water systems, including Fort Smith and Hot Springs, have grants approved by Delta Dental for a total of $4.85 million.

NW News on 09/02/2014

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