Following mounting scrutiny over its decision to stop adding fluoride to drinking water, leadership at Central Alabama Water is offering a new explanation: fluoridation had already lapsed years earlier under the previous Birmingham Water Works Board.

Rather than just a recent policy shift, CAW officials now describe the situation as a gradual breakdown caused by neglected infrastructure.

According to utility spokesman John Matson, three of the system’s four treatment plants stopped fluoridating water between 2023 and 2024 due to maintenance failures under prior leadership, before the state Legislature almost a year ago restructured the utility and its leadership and shifted representation away from the city and toward the suburbs.

Records cited by the utility indicate that fluoridation ceased at the Putnam Filter Plant on Jan. 7, 2023, at the Carson Filter Plant on Aug. 23, 2023, and at the Western Filter Plant on March 18, 2024.

The Shades Mountain Filter Plant, where the fluoride system was upgraded in 2023, remains the only facility currently capable of fluoridation. However, the utility on March 20 stopped fluoridating water. Matson said it would have been unfair for only one plant to fluoridate water while the others were nonfunctional.

“It’s important to realize that pretty much no one in Birmingham has had any fluoride in their water for two years,” Matson said, “this was done by BWWB before CAW was created and with no public notification so that people could consult with their dentists.”

This revised explanation has shifted scrutiny onto current CEO Jeffrey Thompson, who served as assistant general manager of operations and technical services from November 2019 to May 2023, when the first filter plant was taken offline. In this role, Thompson was responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance through oversight of system operations, including water treatment.

Matson, however, pushed back on attempts to blame Thompson, arguing that his responsibilities were limited to operations and did not include maintenance. Matson said the fluoride system failures were known and reported internally at the time.

Thompson was not available for comment.

Former board Chairwoman Tereshia Q. Huffman, who served from 2020 to 2025, disputes CAW’s account and said the board was never informed that any treatment facilities were failing to fluoridate water. She said the board prioritized water quality and she never would have supported removing a mineral shown to be a boon to public health.

“He does not get to position himself as either a hero or a victim for a decision he made — and chose not to disclose — especially when his decision impacts the public health of over 500,000 customers,” Huffman said.

Former board member Larry Ward, who served from 2020 to 2025, also rejected CAW’s account, saying the previous board never voted to stop fluoridation and was unaware of any lapse in treatment capacity. Ward added that the utility had built reserves well beyond required levels and had a financing plan ready to go to market within months to fund infrastructure improvements — plans later canceled by the current board, which has been dealing with financial issues and a lowered bond rating.

Sheila Tyson, a member of the board that oversees CAW, said that during Thompson’s tenure, leadership prioritized a $4 million operations monitoring and analysis system upgrade instead of addressing failing fluoridation equipment. She also points to Tim Harris, who is now chief operating officer and previously oversaw filter plant operations, as another official who failed to elevate the issue.

According to Tyson, neither Thompson nor Harris identified fluoridation systems as a priority in capital planning documents submitted in 2022 or 2023, and after Thompson’s promotion, Harris continued in his role without informing senior leadership that systems remained inoperable.

The competing narratives underscore a shift in CAW’s public explanation. Initially, officials cited cost savings as a major reason for discontinuing fluoridation; now, they say the practice had already effectively ended due to equipment failures before the current board took control.

Notification of Change Questioned

Concerns have also arisen about whether CAW’s announcement last week violated state law.

Alabama law requires public water systems to provide 90 days’ notice to the state health officer before making changes to fluoridation practices. However, a spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Public Health told AL.com that CAW notified the agency on March 12, only eight days before publicly announcing the decision and shortly after a board meeting where the issue was not discussed.

Tyson formally objected to the decision to stop fluoridation, sending an inquiry to Thompson questioning why the decision was not included on the meeting agenda and disclosed only hours after adjournment without hers and board member Jarvis Patton’s input.

During that March 20 meeting, the board did approve a resolution expanding Thompson’s authority as CEO, including giving him broad powers to set policy, a resolution Tyson and Patton opposed.

The fluoridation controversy comes during a period of upheaval at the utility and amid questioning about a lack of transparency and accountability by its management.

Huffman grew up drinking the water here and says she has always felt a sense of pride in the quality of Birmingham’s water.

“Being a leader is about owning the good decisions you make and also the bad ones,” Huffman said, defending her tenure, “and all I have seen leadership do is shift blame for bad decisions they are making.”