Many people believe that well water drawn from deep underground will contain nothing but good ‘ole H20… but in reality, well water, regardless of how far beneath the ground it comes, may contain a whole host of possibly harmful contaminants; just not as many man-made ones… usually.
Today we received a question from ‘KuntreeBoy’ who asked, “I live outside of town and don’t have city water pipes coming to my house. We have used the same water well for better than 20 years now and now some article in the local paper says all of us need to test our water for fluoride, like the toothpaste? Why test for that stuff in well water? That gets added to city water by water companies I thought?”
KuntreeBoy has a very valid point: Many city water departments DO add fluoride to the water they distribute, er, sell to the public. They do so for the purpose of reducing tooth decay.
Many people object to the addition of fluoride to the public water supply and a good number of countries have gone so far as to BAN the addition of fluoride to the water supply. But, here in the United States, until the USEPA reaches a firm decision on whether or not fluoride poses health risks to US Citizens, well, regional and local water departments have the discretion to add fluoride or not add fluoride… as long as any added fluoride does not exceed concentration limits established by the USEPA.
KuntreeBoy asked about well water, though…
Fluoride occurs naturally in the environment and may show up in well water depending on where a person lives. In fact, we have read over the years that some areas of the United States have groundwater with fluoride levels IN EXCESS of those deemed safe by the USEPA.
So why test for fluoride if you have well water? Simple: Because it the chance exists that your well water may contain fluoride since it occurs naturally in many parts of the world, including the United States.
