Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Quickly noting that the quality of Buffalo water is among the best in the country, Mayor Byron Brown told WBEN, "The buck stops with me," when it comes to the lack of communication to city residents about the lack of fluoridation in city water.
The halting of fluoride being added to the city's water system years ago came to light in a recent report by The Buffalo News and has raised serious concerns about if, and how, city residents were alerted to the change.
Brown told WBEN, "I was not immediately notified," and added, "But I should have been," during comments in city hall Friday. Brown said the change was notated in city water bill statements but admitted that was not the best way to communicate the change. "As we understand, a lot of people don’t read those documents, and so it probably would have been the best approach to release that to the community."
While saying, "There's no excuse for it," with regard to the communication lapse, Brown did detail the rationale for stopping fluoridation years ago as part of a conversion to automate the process.
In the conversion process, there was concerns of lead infiltrating the system, so fluoridation was stopped to prevent that from occurring, out of an abundance of caution, Brown said. He mentioned the Flint, Michigan water crisis and said Buffalo didn't want to risk a repeat of that.
"There is nothing harmful in Buffalo water," Brown said and he assured residents the new fluoridation system should be up and running by the end of the year.
Brown also noted that exposure to fluoride is also multifaceted and comes from dental procedures, toothpaste and other sources.
A Buffalo Common Council committee Tuesday will hear from Water Board officials as well as dental experts as the decision to end fluoridation and the communication issues are discussed.
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