The legacy of a public health achievement in Oroville — adding fluoride in drinking water — is now on its way to being reversed as Oroville councilors pleaded for personal choice over its widely-researched public health benefits, leaving health experts worried on dental care costs likely increasing for rural children. The City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday and passed an ordinance to begin working with the California Public Utilities Commission on lifting its fluoride requirement with Cal Water. The requirement has been in place since 1957, thanks to a grassroots movement of citizens in the late 1940s and 1950s which pushed the City Council at that time to directly request the CPUC to order Cal Water to add fluoride; tension between the city and the utility ran deep at the time.

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