Calgary set to reintroduce fluoride to its water supply on Monday

Andrew Jeffrey · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 29, 2025 7:24 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Nearly 4 years aft Calgarians voted successful favour of reintroducing fluoride to their drinking water, the metropolis is preparing to travel done connected nationalist support this week.

The City of Calgary is readying to erstwhile again adhd fluoride to its drinking water, opening Monday. Previously, the metropolis added fluoride to its h2o for 20 years betwixt 1991 and 2011, earlier assembly directed medication to discontinue the practice. 

When Calgarians were fixed the accidental to ballot connected whether to reverse that determination during the 2021 municipal election, much than 61 per cent voted successful favour of assemblage h2o fluoridation.

Adding fluoride to drinking h2o is simply a nationalist wellness measurement meant to forestall bony decay. Many organizations, including Health Canada and Alberta Health Services, accidental the signifier has been proven to fortify teeth and forestall cavities.

James Dickinson, a prof of household medicine and assemblage wellness sciences astatine the University of Calgary, said this volition beryllium peculiarly beneficial for radical similar children oregon seniors successful continuing attraction centres who whitethorn not brushwood their teeth consistently, and for radical who whitethorn look barriers to regularly visiting a dentist.

"It becomes portion of the dental structure. The enamel connected the tooth, the fluoride really gets into it and makes it a stronger compound that is much resistant to acerb and decay," Dickinson said.

LISTEN | A Calgary metropolis councillor connected wherefore helium changed his caput astir h2o fluoridation:

Fluoride people occurs successful h2o astatine varying levels, but the metropolis volition present guarantee its h2o includes 0.7 milligrams per litre of the mineral, to lucifer the optimal complaint suggested by Health Canada. Added fluoride astatine this level doesn't alteration the taste, odor oregon look of water.

After the 2021 plebiscite supporting the wellness measure, metropolis assembly voted 13-2 to renew assemblage h2o fluoridation. Since then, the metropolis has said assets challenges and uncertainty with the planetary proviso concatenation created delays that pushed backmost a planned September 2024 implementation to this summer.

Community h2o fluoridation is simply a signifier seen successful immoderate different large Alberta cities similar Edmonton, Red Deer and Lethbridge, arsenic good arsenic crossed the state successful Toronto, Ottawa and Winnipeg.

The wellness measurement volition besides interaction communities that Calgary supplies h2o to similar Chestermere, Airdrie, Strathmore, and parts of Foothills County, Rocky View County and Tsuut'ina Nation.

Juliet Guichon, a prof successful the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine, has agelong supported h2o fluoridation. She besides serves arsenic the president of Calgarians for Kids' Health, which advocated for assembly to reconsider its 2011 decision.

She praised the antiauthoritarian worth of reintroducing fluoride to Calgary's water, due to the fact that residents ne'er voted against the practice.

"Voters worth their wellness and they expect elected officials to enactment their health," Guichon said.

"It respects everyone successful Calgary's request for oral wellness protection. And implicit time, we volition spot the benefits successful a simplification of cavities."

More than 50 years of debate

Debate implicit whether Calgary should fluoridate its h2o proviso dates backmost agelong earlier the 2021 plebiscite.

Calgarians voted against introducing the nationalist wellness measurement 4 times betwixt 1957 and 1917, earlier a 1989 plebiscite was palmy successful securing elector support. It was past added to the city's h2o proviso successful 1991, and supported by voters erstwhile again successful different plebiscite successful 1998.

The determination to present bring it backmost is driven by a decennary of information that showed fluoride's removal wounded Calgarians' dental wellness crossed the city, said longtime Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra.

For instance, University of Calgary probe successful 2021 recovered that Grade 2 students successful Calgary were much apt to person cavities than kids of the aforesaid property surviving successful Edmonton, wherever h2o has been continuously fluoridated since 1967.

The outgo of fluoridation continued to beryllium a crushed immoderate councillors continued to reason the idea, adjacent aft the astir caller plebiscite. Reintroducing the indispensable instrumentality for fluoride to the Glenmore and Bearspaw h2o attraction plants outgo the metropolis $28.1 million, and the practice will outgo different $1 cardinal annually, which the metropolis volition screen done section h2o rates.

When helium voted successful favour of the 2011 determination to extremity fluoridation, Carra said helium was skeptical of however ample of an interaction it had, and helium believed nationalist wellness measures weren't a municipality's work to fund.

Now, Carra said helium believes if the municipal authorities tin enactment connected the crushed level to amended nationalist health, it should bash so, and sees the outgo the metropolis has paid to amended nationalist wellness arsenic comparatively small.

"We took it retired arsenic a cost-saving measure, and I deliberation successful retrospect it was a mistake," Carra said.

"We had 10 years of information that showed that taking fluoride retired of the h2o did person a antagonistic interaction connected the dental wellness of our city."