Fluoride in Murfreesboro, TN
Two utilities serve Murfreesboro addresses, both drawing on the Stones River — and both add fluoride. The difference is the level each one actually achieves.
Murfreesboro’s water is fluoridated — on both systems, at very different levels. MWRD reported 0.639 mg/L (2024), close to the CDC 0.7 mg/L target. CUD averaged 0.34 mg/L — about half the recommended level, with results from 0.03 to 0.80. Both levels are far below EPA limits; which one is yours depends on your bill.
How this page works: the levels below come from each utility’s own published water quality report, presented per utility — not from a marketing claim or a guess. New to the topic? Start with our full fluoride guide.
Water quality in Murfreesboro
Curious about your tap water? Tennessee Water Authority has the full Murfreesboro water quality guide — contaminant data, utility details, and filter recommendations.
Murfreesboro’s fluoride, by utility
Everything on this page traces back to these facts, from each utility’s own published water quality report.
LEVEL MWRD — city system
0.639 mg/L
Range 0.569–0.705 mg/L, MWRD 2024 Water Quality Report. The city describes its average as 0.70 mg/L; its 2023 report showed 0.66 mg/L (0.65–0.67). Close to the CDC target.
LEVEL CUD — county system
0.34 mg/L average
Range 0.03–0.80 mg/L, CUD 2024 report. About half the CDC recommended 0.7 mg/L — stated plainly, with wide month-to-month variability.
STATUS Fluoridated — adjusted, both systems
Both systems add fluoride — each report’s source column includes “water additive which promotes strong teeth.” The difference is the achieved level, not the policy.
UTILITY Two utilities serve Murfreesboro
Murfreesboro Water Resources Department (TN0000491, ~107,304 served) · Consolidated Utility District of Rutherford County (TN0000791, ~208,497 served).
SOURCE Stones River watershed
Both systems draw from the Stones River watershed / J. Percy Priest Lake (surface water) — same source, independently treated.
How Murfreesboro’s levels compare
Same county, same river — two verified levels that are not interchangeable. Here is each next to the three benchmarks that matter, each labeled for exactly what it is.
| Benchmark | Level | How Murfreesboro compares |
|---|---|---|
| MWRD average, 2024 | 0.639 mg/L | Range 0.569–0.705 mg/L. Close to the CDC target; the city describes its average as 0.70 mg/L. |
| CUD average, 2024 | 0.34 mg/L | Range 0.03–0.80 mg/L. About half the CDC recommended level — we won’t round it up to the target. |
| CDC recommended level | 0.7 mg/L | MWRD runs just below it; CUD runs at roughly half of it. |
| EPA secondary (non-enforceable) standard | 2.0 mg/L | Both Murfreesboro levels are far below this guideline, which is aimed at preventing cosmetic effects like tooth discoloration. |
| EPA enforceable maximum contaminant level (MCL) | 4.0 mg/L | Both levels are far below the legal limit. |
MWRD’s 2023 report tells a consistent story for the city system: 0.66 mg/L, range 0.65–0.67 mg/L. No equivalent second-year figure is published here for CUD — its 2024 average and wide range are the verified record.
Rutherford County is not one water system
MWRD’s 0.639 mg/L describes city-system customers — it does not describe CUD customers, whose water averaged 0.34 mg/L. Both systems add fluoride and both draw on the Stones River watershed; the achieved levels are simply different. Check your water bill for your utility’s name before assuming either number is your number.
Do you still need fluoride toothpaste?
Yes — and this is the point people most often get backwards.
Fluoridated drinking water is background exposure. Every glass of water bathes your teeth in a low level of fluoride, and that steady, low-level contact genuinely helps enamel resist acid. But it is a base layer, not the main event. Fluoride toothpaste delivers a much more concentrated dose directly onto the enamel, twice a day, right where decay starts.
That matters doubly on CUD water at 0.34 mg/L — about half the CDC recommended level. Either way: brush twice daily with fluoride toothpaste. If you have been skipping fluoride toothpaste because “it’s in the water anyway,” the water was never carrying that load on its own.
Fluoride and kids: the amounts matter
Young children swallow toothpaste, so the ADA’s guidance is about using the right small amount — not about avoiding fluoride toothpaste.
UNDER 3 A rice-grain smear
For children under age 3, use a smear of fluoride toothpaste about the size of a grain of rice. That tiny amount is deliberate — it protects the teeth while keeping what gets swallowed to a minimum.
AGES 3+ A pea-size amount
From age 3 up, a pea-size amount is enough. A ribbon of paste running the length of the brush is several times more than a child needs.
- Supervise brushing. An adult should be watching (and helping) until a child can reliably spit and rinse on their own.
- Teach spitting, not swallowing. Spit the toothpaste out when done; swallowing it as a habit is what the small amounts are designed to guard against.
- Don’t load the brush. More paste does not mean cleaner teeth — it mostly means more swallowed.
What about fluoride varnish at the dentist?
An in-office fluoride treatment or varnish is a much stronger, targeted dose than anything in tap water or toothpaste.
On CUD water at 0.34 mg/L — about half the CDC recommended level — varnish remains worthwhile for kids and for adults at higher cavity risk: people with recent cavities, dry mouth, braces, or exposed tooth roots. The water gives you a partial base layer, and varnish tops it up exactly where a clinician can see it’s needed. The same holds, if less urgently, on MWRD water just below target.
If your cavity risk is low, it’s also reasonable to ask your dentist to walk you through your risk before a treatment — in either direction, the decision should be explained, not automatic.
On a private well? None of this applies automatically
Well water is not fluoridated by any utility
Nobody adjusts the fluoride in a private well — or tests it, unless you do. Well water may carry naturally occurring fluoride, almost none, or more than you’d expect, and taste won’t tell you. This matters in Rutherford County, where a home can be minutes from a city main and not connected to it. Test your well water before assuming what’s in it, and tell your dentist you’re on well water so your fluoride plan is built on your actual water, not the city’s.
How to confirm Murfreesboro’s level yourself
Don’t take our word for it — the primary sources are public.
- Read your utility’s current water quality report. The MWRD 2024 report lists fluoride at 0.639 mg/L (range 0.569–0.705); the CUD 2024 report (PDF) lists its average at 0.34 mg/L (range 0.03–0.80). A new report comes out each year; the newest one is the one to trust.
- Check CDC’s My Water’s Fluoride. The CDC’s system-by-system tracker at nccd.cdc.gov/DOH_MWF lists fluoridation status and levels for community water systems, including MWRD (TN0000491) and CUD (TN0000791).
- Check whose name is on your bill. If your bill names CUD instead of MWRD, CUD’s 0.34 mg/L average governs your tap — not this page’s city-system figure.
For the bigger picture — how fluoridation works, the arguments on both sides, and how to think about filters — see our full fluoride guide.
Questions people actually ask
Asked the way people actually ask them — answered from the sources cited below.
Yes — both systems that serve Murfreesboro add fluoride, but they achieve very different levels. The Murfreesboro Water Resources Department (MWRD) reported 0.639 mg/L in its 2024 water quality report, close to the CDC recommended 0.7 mg/L. The Consolidated Utility District of Rutherford County (CUD) reported an average of 0.34 mg/L in its 2024 report — about half the recommended level. Which one serves you depends on your address and your bill.
It depends on your utility. MWRD customers get about 0.64 mg/L (2024 report; range 0.569–0.705 mg/L) — the city describes its average as 0.70 mg/L. CUD customers get an average of 0.34 mg/L, with monthly results ranging from 0.03 to 0.80 mg/L in CUD's 2024 report. Same county, same river — two very different numbers.
It is low — roughly half the CDC recommended level of 0.7 mg/L, and this page states that plainly rather than rounding it up. CUD does add fluoride; the difference is the achieved level, not the policy, and its reported range (0.03–0.80 mg/L) shows wide variability. The level is still far below both EPA standards: the secondary (non-enforceable) standard is 2.0 mg/L and the enforceable maximum contaminant level (MCL) is 4.0 mg/L. Brushing twice daily with fluoride toothpaste matters even more at this level.
No — not necessarily. If your bill names the Consolidated Utility District of Rutherford County (CUD or CUDRC), your water is CUD water, which averaged 0.34 mg/L in its 2024 report, not MWRD's 0.639 mg/L. Check whose name is on your water bill — that utility's report is the one that governs your tap.
Yes. Fluoridated drinking water is background exposure — it bathes your teeth in a low level of fluoride through the day, which helps, but it does not replace the concentrated fluoride that toothpaste delivers directly to the enamel while you brush. Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, and treat the water as a helpful base layer, not the whole defense.
The ADA's guidance: for children under age 3, use a smear of fluoride toothpaste about the size of a grain of rice. For ages 3 and up, a pea-size amount is enough. Supervise brushing, teach your child to spit the toothpaste out rather than swallow it, and remember that more paste on the brush does not mean cleaner teeth — the small amounts are deliberate, because young kids swallow some no matter what.
For many people, yes — especially on CUD water at 0.34 mg/L, about half the CDC recommended level. An in-office fluoride treatment or varnish puts a much stronger dose directly on the teeth, and it remains worthwhile for kids and for adults at higher cavity risk — people with recent cavities, dry mouth, braces, or exposed roots. If your cavity risk is low, ask your dentist to explain your risk either way rather than accepting or skipping it on autopilot.
No utility fluoridates private well water — nobody adjusts it at all. Well water can contain some naturally occurring fluoride, a lot, or almost none, and you cannot tell by taste. If your home is on a well in Rutherford County, have the water tested before assuming anything about its fluoride level, and tell your dentist you are on well water so your fluoride plan reflects it.
Start with your own utility's current water quality report — MWRD's 2024 report and CUD's 2024 report are linked in the sources below, and each lists fluoride with its level and range. You can also check CDC's My Water's Fluoride, which tracks fluoridation status and levels by water system. If your bill names CUD instead of MWRD, CUD's report is the one that governs your tap.
Sources & method
- Murfreesboro Water Resources Department, Water Quality Report 2024 — fluoride 0.639 mg/L, range 0.569–0.705 mg/L; system TN0000491; Murfreesborotn.gov/DocumentCenter/View/33690/2024-Water-Quality-Report.
- Murfreesboro Water Resources Department, Water Quality Report 2023 — corroborating fluoride level of 0.66 mg/L, range 0.65–0.67 mg/L; Murfreesborotn.gov/DocumentCenter/View/28934/2023-Water-Quality-Report.
- City of Murfreesboro, Water Quality page — “MWRD adds fluoride to the drinking water… averages 0.70 mg/L”; murfreesborotn.gov/1995/Water-Quality.
- Consolidated Utility District of Rutherford County, CCR 2024 — fluoride 0.34 mg/L average, range 0.03–0.80 mg/L, monthly testing; system TN0000791; cudrc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2024-CCR.pdf.
- CDC — recommended fluoride level of 0.7 mg/L for community water systems; fluoridation status and levels are also tracked in CDC’s My Water’s Fluoride.
- EPA — enforceable maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 4.0 mg/L and secondary (non-enforceable) standard of 2.0 mg/L for fluoride in drinking water.
- American Dental Association (ADA) — children’s toothpaste amounts: a rice-grain smear under age 3, a pea-size amount at ages 3 and up, with supervised brushing.
Method in one line: Murfreesboro’s levels come from the two utilities’ own published 2024 reports, presented per utility, because the same county and the same river produced two very different achieved levels. We never name, rank, or recommend private dental practices.