New fluoride facilities now operating

The new fluoride facilities at the Te Mārua and Gear Island Water Treatment Plants are now operating and reliably fluoridating the drinking water within the Ministry of Health target range.

“The testing of the facilities has gone well, and we have been in the Ministry of Health target range for fluoride for most of September,” says Wellington Water Chief Executive, Colin Crampton.

Mr Crampton says this week’s milestone is thanks to the hard work of the project team at Wellington Water. “It’s been five months since we first announced that the fluoride facilities at the Te Mārua and Gear Island Water Treatment Plants were turned off. Since then, we’ve had a team of dedicated Wellington Water employees working tirelessly to build new facilities and get fluoride back on.”

Wellington Water is also close to implementing all five recommendations from the independent inquiry into events that resulted in stopping fluoridation of drinking water at the two water treatment plants.

“We have made key changes in our organisation to ensure that we maintain a relentless focus on fluoridation,” says Mr Crampton. “The next steps will be to report back to our Board to formally close out the inquiry.”

Today’s announcement also concludes Wellington Water’s weekly project updates. However, monthly reporting of the fluoride levels from all four of the region’s metropolitan water treatment plants will continue as well as public notifications when fluoride facilities are turned off for maintenance or repairs. Monthly reporting and notifications are published on the Wellington Water website.