Huge fail by Wellington Water

Stuff reports:

There has been no fluoride in Wellington’s water supply since February and fluoridation has been inconsistent for the last four years.

The water supply in Wellington, Upper Hutt, and Porirua has not been fluoridated for more than a month.

“Wellington Water made the decision to turn off the fluoride facilities in February because of health and safety issues, according to an email sent to mayor and councillors last night. …

A draft press release attached to the email stated the fluoride dosing at all water treatment plants has been inconsistent for the past four years.

Because of the inconsistent dosage, operators have lowered the dose of fluoride to avoid dangerously high levels of fluoride. This means dosage has often been below the effective range.

This doesn’t affect us as we are on a tank supply, but this is a huge fail. For four years fluoridation has been below the effective range, and they even turned it off without telling anyone.

UPDATE: It’s even worse. The Herald reports:

An independent inquiry has been launched after Wellington Water was found to have overseen low and inconsistent levels of fluoridation in the region’s water supply for four years.

Fresh revelations have also emerged tonight that Upper Hutt, Porirua and Wellington City have not been supplied with fluoridated water since last year without residents being told.

Wellington Water previously reported fluoride had been turned off last month, which was incorrect. …

The board has clarified fluoridation was stopped at the Te Marua water treatment plant in May 2021 and in November 2021 at the Gear Island plant.

They supply Upper Hutt, Porirua and Wellington City.

This is a failure of such monumental proportions that either the Chair or CEO (or both) must go.

Any competent commercial board would have governance policies that would require management to report significant risks to them. A failure to comply with a statutory requirement to fluoridate the water would be as big a risk as you can imagine.

If the board did not have a policy requiring them to be informed of such risks, then the board chair must resign.

If the board did have such a policy, then the CEO must resign for keeping this hidden from his board for many months.