The Oil Drum: Local

Note that they are all single serving size bottles.  Long live individualism!

Proof;
  There is still some controversy about adding fluoride to water supplies, but it has been an enormous success given the state of our dietary and other healthcare and economic realities in the US.

"The American Dental Association, the federal Centers for Disease Control and state government have endorsed the practice of fluoridating public water at 1 part per million for nearly 50 years to combat tooth decay in a safe, cost-effective manner.
Massachusetts officials supplied The Standard-Times with one study that shows the effectiveness of fluoridation on children's teeth. There are hundreds of studies from across the country that compare children who drink water without fluoride to those who drink fluoridated water.
The 1981 study by the Harvard University School of Dental Medicine and state Department of Dental Care Administration looked at 231 children ages 7 to 14 who grew up with fluoridated water in 1981 in Holyoke and a similar group of children who were screened in the same Holyoke schools in 1968 before the community added fluoride to its water.
The researchers found that among young boys and girls there was a 72 percent reduction in tooth decay, as measured through cavities, missing teeth and other signs of decay.
Comparisons of nonfluoridated and fluoridated communities in the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand have consistently demonstrated the effectiveness of water fluoridation in reducing decay, according to the CDC. The reduction in dental decay ranged from 15 percent to 40 percent in these studies.
With this kind of results, it is understandable that the directors of New Bedford's anti-poverty agency, PACE, made a request several years ago to the New Bedford Board of Health to add fluoride to city water to help children and adults, and particularly to reach poor children who do not have good dental care at home through regular brushing or at a dentist's office through regular visits. "

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/05-06/05-04-06/01opinion.htm

As far as our bodies 'not using' the minerals in water, ..please.  Regular drinking water doesn't carry the volumes of Calcium or Magnesium that we NEED every day, compared to what 'should' be in our food, but if it's there in solution in the small intestine, it will get picked over, and Ca and Mg aren't the only minerals we need.  

In the case of emergency water rations, who could argue with whatever Wa. has pulled together? Sure.. But the argument is about the ridiculous volumes of throwaway bottles that clog our solid waste streams and throw away precious feed-stocks in one-use containers. (Even recycled, that plastic has maybe two degraded uses to go, before its tossed.  Glass, or a reusable water-bottle could go on for years.  I hope the schools have at least stocked up in large, reusable water-cooler tanks, and not just cases of 'handi-paks'.. we've convinced ourselves that these conveniences are absolutely life/death necessities.

Just a reminder that the trade in illegal drugs also provides many people with jobs, as does the manufacture of Hummers.
Providing people with jobs is not, and never has been, a valid arguement to continue engaging in some wasteful or detrimental practice.

Actually, I grew up with well water that was not fluoridated. When I moved to NYC, the first thing the dental hygienist asked me was whether I grew up drinking well water, because people with as many cavities as I have often didn't drink fluoridated water. (That's not to say that you can't otherwise have lots of cavities, but there's a strong correlation according to her.)

Toothpaste actually is not as good as we might want it to be—many places that don't have fluoridated water give kids fluoride pills.