Fluoridation failure 'disgusts' opponent

A Waitati woman opposed to fluoridation of the township's water supply says she is "disgusted" to learn she has been drinking water treated with the chemical for weeks.

Rosemary Penwarden contacted the Otago Daily Times yesterday, claiming the Dunedin City Council had reneged on a deal to notify residents in Warrington, Waitati and Seacliff before their water supply was changed.

The residents of all three townships were to be switched to the city's fluoridated Mt Grand Reservoir once a new 24km pipe being built as part of the $9.4 million northern water scheme reached them.

Council staff yesterday confirmed the pipe had been activated in the middle of last month, although boil water notices remained in force for Warrington and Waitati as the council waited for Public Health South test results to approve lifting the notices.

Mrs Penwarden said that broke a deal with the Waikouaiti Coast Community Board to notify residents before the new water supply was activated.

She has been drinking the water through a filter for two weeks, "but that doesn't filter out fluoride".

"We are pretty disgusted the DCC hasn't actually bothered to let us know. It's been on for two weeks and they have not notified anyone about that.

"I feel that we have the right to be told and we haven't been told, so I feel angry about that."

However, council communications co-ordinator Rodney Bryant said the notification was to be posted to all residents once the boil-water notice was lifted, and gaining approval from health officials had delayed the letters.

The new pipe had to be activated for testing purposes before the notices could be lifted, he said.

A March edition of City Talk - a council publication sent to all Dunedin households - had noted the new water supply was expected to be activated "within days", and letters to individual households were ready to be sent once the notices were lifted, he said.

Waikouaiti Coast Community Board chairman Alasdair Morrison said he had requested notification by the council "as soon as possible" but received the same explanation.

He did not feel the council had reneged on a deal.

"It's one of those chicken-and-egg things . . . we made a request to get something done - the timing of it is probably unfortunate."

However, he said he had not been approached by residents concerned about the change.

"Nobody has mentioned it to me . . . There will always be those against it [fluoridation] and those for it. There's no easy answer - you can't separate the water into two separate pipes."

Mrs Penwarden said those she had spoken to were upset by the lack of notification, and some residents were planning to post notices around Waitati.