IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER
Elevated Fluoride Levels Detected

This is an alert about your drinking water and a cosmetic dental problem that might affect children under nine years of age. At low levels, fluoride can help prevent cavities, but children drinking water containing more than 2.0 milligrams per liter (mg/l) of fluoride may develop cosmetic discoloration of their permanent teeth (dental fluorosis). The drinking water provided by the City of Melcher Dallas has a fluoride concentration of 2.4 mg/l as tested.

Dental fluorosis in its moderate or severe forms, may result in a brown staining and or pitting of the permanent teeth. This problem occurs only in developing teeth, before they erupt from the gums. Children under nine should be provided with alternative sources of drinking water or water that has been treated to remove the fluoride to avoid the possibility of staining and pitting of their permanent teeth. You may also want to contact your dentist about proper use by young children of fluoride-containing products. Older children and adults may safely drink the water.

Drinking water containing more than 4.0 mg/l of fluoride (the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water standard) can increase your risk of developing bone disease. Your drinking water does not contain more than 4.0 mg/l of fluoride, but we’re required to notify you when we discover that the fluoride levels in your drinking water exceed 2.0 mg/l because of this cosmetic dental problem.

For more information, please call the City of Melcher Dallas at 641-947-6501. Some home water treatment units are also available to remove fluoride from drinking water. In Iowa, home water treatment units are regulated under 641—Chapter 14, with the water treatment unit registration program administered by the Iowa department of public health’s environmental health division. In addition, you may call the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) International, at 1-877-867-3435.

Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

This notice is being sent to you by Melcher Dallas Water Dept.

PWSID#: _6300099 Date distributed:  December 20, 2017

Oral Health
Kevin Wooddell
Lucas State Office
321 E 12th
Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0075