Oroville considers lifting fluoride requirement
Time has passed, but tension once ran deep between Oroville and Cal Water, when the utility company refused the city’s request to add fluoride to its water supply in 1954. In fact, Oroville complained to the California Public Utilities Commission in 1955, asking it to order Cal Water to obtain its fluoridation permit. Its case with the CPUC met a petition with the California Supreme Court in 1957, but Cal Water ultimately applied for and received its permit from the state Department of Health by the end of that year. It was said to be the first request of its kind in the United States to a state regulatory body like the CPUC, according to the March 1, 1955 Oroville Mercury-Register. But that’s all history, now that the Oroville City Council will consider Tuesday whether to require Cal Water add fluoride to the domestic water supply in city limits.