ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Effective July 1, all local governments are banned from adding fluoride to public water supplies.

What You Need To Know

  • Effective July 1, all local governments are banned from adding fluoride to public water supplies
  • St. Petersburg is beginning the process of removing fluoride from public drinking water to comply with the ban

  • Last month, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 700 into law

Last month, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 700 into law, which makes Florida the second state in the country behind Utah to prohibit injecting the mineral into water systems.

The City of St. Petersburg's fluoride tank is a visible and prominent fixture at its Cosme Water Treatment Plant in northern Hillsborough County.

To comply with federal guidelines, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations and public preferences, the city started injecting the mineral into its public drinking water in 1993.

“Our annual budget is about $250 million to run our utilities,” said St. Petersburg Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley.

“Our annual budget for purchasing fluoride is $55,000. We have about 330,000 customers that we serve on a daily basis, so when you do the math, it comes out to be about $0.15 per person, per year, to provide this fluoride,” Tankersley added.

Typically, St. Petersburg would purchase new fluoride supplies five times a year, but leaders stopped ordering their stock once state legislators approved the ban.

Starting Monday, the existing fluoride supply is being allowed to run out completely.

Tankersly expects the process to be finished by the end of this week.

“Our water quality will still be safe and of the highest standards, so customers will not notice a thing,” said Tankersley. “Fluoride does not have a flavor. Fluoride does not have an odor, and they will not even notice when we stop injecting the fluoride.”

Rated to pump 70 million gallons of water per day, the city’s Cosme Water Treatment Plant serves customers in St. Petersburg and Gulfport with plenty of capacity, pumping 28 million gallons, on average, per day.

The fluoride removal won’t affect any of the other treatment processes and will continue to meet or exceed federal and state guidelines, according to the Public Works Administrator.

City and state leaders are encouraging people to monitor their dental health with regular checkups and consider using toothpaste and mouthwash containing fluoride.