Australia - Water rates to rise as fluoridation begins

Water rates to rise as fluoridation begins
June 19th, 2009 GEELONG'S freshly fluoridated water will cost consumers 14 per cent more from next month.
The Essential Services Commission has approved water - which will be fluoridated from next week - and sewage price rises for Barwon Water customers of 13.8 per cent, including CPI of 2.47 per cent, from July 1.
A common household using 165 kilolitres of water a year will now pay about an extra $100 a year, or $1.58 a week.
Barwon Water chairman Roger Lowrey said the new charges would fund more than $766 million in new projects designed to ensure water supply security until 2055.
"This significant financial commitment today is an investment in tomorrow," Mr Lowrey said.

He said the revenue stream would fast-track the Anglesea borefield, the Melbourne-Geelong interconnection and new recycled water plants in Geelong's northern suburbs and at Black Rock.
"These projects combined will provide an additional 75 per cent of current demand within five years. At the same time, Barwon Water will continue to develop projects that will guarantee water for the future," he said.
Mr Lowrey also said the higher prices would encourage water conservation.
"It sends a clear message to customers that the less they use, the less they pay," he said.
Meanwhile, Department of Human Services spokesman Bram Alexander yesterday said commissioning work was on schedule for the fluoride dosing facilities at the Wurdee Boluc and Moorabool water treatment plants.
"It will be after June 22 or sometime in the following week, and it should take a week for the dosing to reach the optimal level of 0.9 parts per million," Mr Alexander said.
Fluoride dosing plants use flow meters to ensure the correct safe levels of the compound are maintained in the water supply.
Mr Alexander said the move was a part of the Victorian Government policy of expanding fluoride to cover the entire state.
"Water fluoridation is being extended to major rural and regional centres across Victoria to close a critical gap in the dental health of children living in regional and rural Victoria," he said.
The Barwon Association for Freedom from Fluoridation has kept up a stiff opposition to the introduction of the scheme, saying fluoride was "poisoning" the community.
A rally of more than 200 people marched the streets of Geelong on Saturday and the group has vowed to continue the fight in the Supreme Court, use picket lines or vote MPs out of office.
Mr Alexander scoffed at the group's claims, saying the weight of scientific evidence showed that "optimal levels" of fluoride in water fluoridation programs did not cause allergic reactions or allergy-like symptoms.
"Fluoride is an inevitable component of all diets due to its presence in common foods," he said.
Areas affected by the decision include Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula and other towns including Lara, Little River (south of the river), Breamlea, Connewarre, Mount Duneed, Torquay, Jan Juc, Anglesea, Moriac, Winchelsea, Inverleigh, Bannockburn, Batesford, Teesdale, Shelford, Lethbridge, Gheringhap, Anakie and Meredith.