Andrew Fraser
The Australian
Thursday, May 14, 2009
QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh has been severely embarrassed after 20 times the recommended maximum safe dose of fluoride was put into Brisbane’s drinking water.
The incident occurred two weeks ago at North Pine Dam, on Brisbane’s outskirts, where a treatment plant was shut down for general maintenance but fluoride kept being added automatically to the water.
Consequently, when the plant was turned back on, the water that contained an excessive amount of fluoride was put directly into the water supply of 4000 homes in the suburbs of Warner and Brendale, in Brisbane’s north, between 9am and 12pm on May 1.
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The concentration of fluoride in the water that flowed directly into households was 30-31mg per litre, while the regulated maximum is 1.5mg per litre.
The incident marks the second water problem for the Bligh Government, which was forced to back down late last year on plans to add recycled effluent to southeast Queensland dams. The plan was deferred in the face of community concerns about the safety of recycled water, but treated effluent will be added to dams when their levels fall to 40per cent.
While all other states have had fluoride in drinking water for years, the matter has always been more contentious in Queensland and fluoride was put into the drinking water in the state’s southeast only at the start of this year.
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