Marquette upgrading drinking water system

One Upper Peninsula city has received a record–setting state grant to upgrade its drinking water system.  The project should help prevent one of America’s most common chronic childhood diseases.

Marquette has just received $24,000 to repair its water fluoridation system.  The grant money comes from the Michigan Department of Community Health’s Oral Health Program.

$24,000 is the maximum that a Michigan city can receive in the program.  This is the first time in the four-year history of the grants that any city has received that amount.

The MDCH says about 90% of Michigan communities with their own water system add fluoride to their water.  Marquette was one of the first communities in the state to do so.  The city’s tap water has been fluoridated since 1951.

Eight other Michigan cities and townships have also received this year’s fluoridation equipment grants.  St. Ignace is one of those cities.  The city received a grant of just under $7,300.