A town employee who quietly lowered the fluoride in water has resigned

A town employee in Richmond, Vt., who quietly lowered the fluoride level in the drinking water has resigned. (Wilson Ring/AP)

A town employee who quietly lowered the fluoride in a Vermont community's drinking water for years has resigned — and is asserting that the levels had actually been low for much longer than believed.

Richmond water superintendent Kendall Chamberlin disclosed in his five-page resignation letter, submitted Monday, that fluoride levels have not been in the state-recommended range for over a decade — instead of nearly four years, as the state had recently disclosed.