FARMINGTON — None of the cities in Davis County fits the criteria for having a functionally separate water system, so no city can pull out of the countywide fluoride vote even if the city's residents rejected the measure, the Davis County Board of Health said Tuesday morning.
Despite recent claims by some Davis County cities that their water supplies are functionally separate, the county health board says the water supplies are not "totally" separate, and that is the legislative intent of the law.
" 'Functionally' is an unfortunate word. They should have used the word 'totally,' " Director of Health Lewis Garrett said at the Tuesday morning meeting.
That means Woods Cross, which is 91 percent independent from other water supplies, would not be considered functionally separate.
The city is one of four in the county whose residents voted against fluoridation in November. City officials have been considering going against the county's implementation of fluoridation because they say Woods Cross could be considered functionally separate and exempt from the countywide vote.
But health board members say an individual municipality should go along with the county vote even if its vote was different.
"It was a countywide vote and it passed. It was not voted on by any city or water district," said Richard Harvey of the Environmental Health Division.
Residents in Centerville have questioned the fluoride vote because the election was so close, with 52 percent voting in favor of the measure in Davis County and 58 percent voting in favor of it in Salt Lake County. They argue that with such a large segment of the population opposed to fluoride it is unfair to force it on the entire voting public.
Whether or not the vote was a landslide, health board members argue the measure still passed.
"It's not the point of the Board of Health ramming something down somebody's throat," board member Montie Keller said.
And from a certain perspective, the vote was a landslide, said board member Beth Beck. In Spokane, Wash., fluoride lost at the ballot by 1,300 votes. It passed in Davis County by 3,400.
"Al Gore would do anything to have 3,400 votes," she said.
The board will begin to move ahead with implementation of fluoride in coming months, applying for funding from the Division of Drinking Water and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cover assessment costs.
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