Published on 10 October 2024
Waitaki District Council is temporarily pausing the fluoridation of the Oamaru Water Supply.
Council targets 0.8 mg/L for fluoridation, following the Director General of Health’s directive to fluoridate between 0.7 and 1.0 mg/L. Testing this week indicated levels of 1.07mg/L post-reservoir, and 1.08mg/L at South Hill.
Whilst marginally above the target level, these levels remain well within the Maximum Acceptable Value for fluoride in safe drinking water set at 1.5mg/L in the Water Services (Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand) Regulations 2022.
Fluoridation has stopped while Council’s Water Services and our commissioning contractors Filtec recalibrate our dosing equipment and analyser to ensure water is fluoridated at around 0.8mg/L.
Water from the Oamaru Supply will continue to have fluoride present for up to two weeks from today as our reservoirs and wider network contains already fluoridated water.
It is anticipated that recalibration will be complete within two weeks, and fluoridation can recommence.
When fluoridation restarts, Council will perform regular testing at the treatment plant and in the reticulation network with an accredited laboratory, in addition to continue to use the dosing and analyser recording to ensure it remains at the targeted 0.8mg/L which is the requirement for monitoring fluoridated supplies.
The Director General of Health has been notified that dosing has stopped to allow for this recalibration.