Great for teeth – fluoride returns to Bourke’s water supply

Bourke Shire Council reintroduced fluoride to the local water supply via the water treatment plant. Photo TWH

It’s been eight years since fluoride was added to Bourke’s water after the fluoride dosing equipment became inoperable.

Fluoridation is the process of adjusting the amount of fluoride in drinking water to an optimal level to help reduce tooth decay.

Bourke Shire Council General Manager Leonie Brown said that council advised the NSW Health Unit back in 2016 that council had ceased to fluoridate the water.

“Council investigated fixing the plant but there was difficulty in getting parts. It wasn’t until 2018 that we got approval for fluoridation and by that stage, we’d started building our new water treatment plant,” Mrs Brown said.

“The new water treatment plant has its own fluoridation system, which would have again provided fluoride to the Burke water supply system. However, there were further delays in getting the fluoridation functioning after the commissioning of the plant.”

“Eventually we got all of the approvals, and so we commenced fluoridation of Bourke’s water supply on Monday 2 September,” Mrs Brown said. […]

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