DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
Levin’s water treatment plant is in Gladstone Rd.
There will be fluoride in Levin and Ōhau’s water supplies by the end of July next year.
The Horowhenua District Council is one of 14 local authorities that have received a directive under new legislation to make the change.
The estimated cost of installation of the necessary equipment is $1 million.
While the council can apply for Ministry of Health funding for the technology, waiting for an outcome from that application would not give it time to meet the deadline.
READ MORE:
* Bloomfield will order some water supplies to be fluoridated from mid-2022.
* What is water fluoridation and how does it work?
* Government commits $12m to help councils cover costs of fluoridation in water supplies
The council voted at its November meeting to amend its capital budget to cover the costs.
Mayor Bernie Wanden said fluoridation was important for improving the oral health of the community, and the council had to comply with the directive.
Chief executive Monique Davidson said fluoridation was a contentious issue, and the directive had come at a time when many changes were signalled for water services.
“Council is obligated to abide by the directive, and it’s now time for us to deliver on that directive for our community.
“The only challenge we now have is ensuring we don’t have oral health inequities across our district in the future.”
Figures supplied by the ministry for 2020 indicated 42% of children aged five and under within the former MidCentral District Health Board area had experienced tooth decay, but that incidence rose to 59% for Māori children.
Information supporting the directive to fluoridate estimated about 20,000 people in the Levin community would benefit from improved oral health as a result.
