Ministry of Health supports fluoridation bill
Sodium fluoride is often added to water and toothpaste.
A Government proposal to amend legislation related to drinking water will make fluoridation of water in Rodney and Kaipara more likely.
Treatment plants in Warkworth, Snells Beach and Wellsford could theoretically be used to fluoridate reticulated water.
Although Auckland, Waitakere, Manukau and Franklin are all fluoridated, the former Rodney District is not.
In 2019, Watercare head of operations Priyan Perera told Mahurangi Matters that it had not revisited fluoridation since the formation of the Supercity.
“Watercare adds fluoride to Auckland’s drinking water supplies based on requests from former local councils,” he said.
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Hays Creek Dam in the Hūnua Ranges which will supply Auckland with six million litres of water a day from next week.
A mothballed dam in the Hūnua Ranges will start supplying six million litres of water a day to the Auckland network from next week as part of a $68 million dollar Watercare project. The Hays Creek Dam was completed in 1967 and can hold 1.1 gigalitres of water. It is the smallest of the Hūnua dams and was originally designed solely to supply water to Papakura. In June 2020 Watercare announced it planned to upgrade the dam and build a new water treatment plant in nearby Red Hill so it could reintegrate it into the Auckland water supply network.