Last week, residents of Birmingham, Alabama, were informed that their drinking water would no longer contain fluoride. Then came a twist: It turned out that their water utility had, without telling the public, actually stopped adding it years ago.
John Matson, a spokesperson for Central Alabama Water, which serves Birmingham and its surrounding suburbs, confirmed to NBC News that two of the utility’s four water filtration plants had temporarily stopped fluoridating in 2023, and a third had stopped in March 2024. The changes were made under prior leadership, he said, when the utility had a different name.
Matson said Central Alabama Water has found “no record” of the public being notified…