Halifax Water says it should have told customers fluoride wasn’t being added

CITYnews halifax / By Mark Hodgins

Halifax Water says it acknowledges that it should have informed the public about interruptions to the fluoridation process at two area water supply plans.

“Halifax Water is committed to meeting our regulatory commitments to provide safe drinking water. However, we also understand that we need to improve our communications related to longer-term interruptions of our fluoridation process with our customers, our Board of Commissioners and the Municipality,” Kenda MacKenzie, Acting General Manager of Halifax Water, said. “We will work to address these gaps moving forward.”

The utility released a statement on Friday morning, explaining that equipment issues at both Pockwock Lake and Lake Major in recent years led to issues with adding fluoride to the water supply.

At Pockwock Lake the system was taken offline in May 2023. Halifax Water says the fluoridation system is expected to be brought back online by the end of 2024.

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The system at Lake Major reached the end of its useful life in 2020 and was taken offline.

“Based on current plans, the updated fluoride equipment has been included within a more extensive scope of upgrades that will take place at the Lake Major Water Supply plant within 5-7 years,” the statement said.

Adding fluoride to the water supply is not mandatory in Nova Scotia, according to Halifax Water, but the utility says it has added fluoride to some water supply plants since the 1950s.

“The decision to add fluoride at Lake Major and Pockwock Lake was most recently revisited in 2014. At that time, the Halifax Water Board of Commissioners endorsed fluoridation based on support from the IWK, the Nova Scotia Dental Association, and the Dalhousie University Faculty of Dentistry,” the utility said.

Halifax Water says it will advise customers once the fluoridation process is restored.