Plans to fluoridate the city of Albany’s municipal water supply have been on hold for months due to supply chain issues caused by the war in Iran, city officials confirmed to WAMC.
The delays come even as Albany has finished building the infrastructure it needs to begin adding fluoride, which strengthens tooth enamel, to its municipal water supply, according to Albany Common Councilmember Tom Hoey. But like cities across the country, Albany has been unable to obtain fluorosilicic acid, the chemical used to fluoridate water.
“Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and impacts to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the availability of fluoride shipments have been affected across the United States,” a spokesperson for Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs said in a statement to WAMC. “The Mayor’s office and Water Department are actively monitoring the situation, and have provided updates to city leadership on the topic.”
The supply chain issues appear to have dragged on for months. A statement on a city webpage dated April 15, 2026, reads that the city was “unable to purchase” fluorosilicic acid. That statement was never reported on at the time.
Building the infrastructure to add fluoride to the water cost about $1.4 million. Purchasing fluorosilicic acid and maintenance would cost about $81,000 a year and add about $1 dollar annually to the average water bill.
Many municipalities have struggled to keep fluoride in the water since war erupted in the Middle East in late February, according to the Associated Press. That’s in part because Israel, which is involved in the conflict, is one of the world’s largest fluorosilicic acid exporters, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Many Israeli employees of fluorosilicic acid exporters have been called into military service since the start of the conflict.
Hoey, who represents the 15th Ward, introduced a local law adding fluoride to the water, which was passed in 2024 by a vote of 12-0, with one abstention.
Hoey said he’s wanted to re-fluoridate Albany’s water since his now-adult son got a severe cavity as a child that “almost destroyed” an adult tooth that hadn’t yet grown in. He says the dentist he took his son identified them as city residents because he’d seen a higher rate of cavities in children within city limits.
Even though it was “too late” to prevent his son’s cavity, Hoey says fluoridating the water could improve the dental health of Albany’s children moving forward.
“We have a lot of inner-city youth that are disadvantaged, as far as financially and even seeing a dentist at all,” Hoey said. “This was a good way for public health to be able to do something about it.”
Some Albany residents with the group Safe Water Albany pushed back on the fluoridation plans after they were passed. At least one councilmember, 7th Ward representative Sergio Adams, suggested pausing the fluoride implementation in response to those protests.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there. We went with the science,” Hoey said. “We had over 30 doctors and dentists come into the council and testify, and overwhelmingly, it passed.”
City officials had discussed adding fluoride to the water supply in the 1990s, but they ultimately took no action.
Fluoride is added to many municipal water systems because it prevents tooth decay and cavities, according to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called community water fluoridation one of the greatest public health accomplishments of the 20th century.
Albany was supposed to add 0.7 mg/L of fluoride to the water in accordance with public health guidelines, according to the city’s website.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sown doubt about the safety of fluoride, despite the scientific evidence, according to the health news outlet Stat. Utah and Florida both banned adding fluoride to the water in 2025, according to NPR.
According to a study published by the National Institutes of Health, 72.7% of the U.S. population received water from a community water systems. Of that portion of the population, 62.9% received water that met U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fluoridation standards.
