Fluoride returns to drinking water in Windsor, Tecumseh and LaSalle

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For the first time since 2013, there is fluoride in the local drinking water.

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Starting Wednesday, Enwin Utilities Ltd. resumes fluoridation of drinking water systems serving Windsor, Tecumseh and LaSalle.

Garry Rossi, Enwin’s vice president of water operations, said consumers “won’t notice anything different in terms of the taste, smell or appearance of the water.”

But Rossi acknowledged that fluoride in drinking water is a controversial issue. “The Windsor Public Utilities Commission…takes its direction from the city councils it serves,” he said.

“Our job is to provide safe, reliable, high-quality water to our customers, and our customers have enacted statutes to add fluoride to drinking water, at the recommendation of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.

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“The reality is that this is a decision that was made at the municipal council level.”

Rossi said the resumption of fluoridation follows the completion of extensive testing, including an evaluation of the treatment capacity of fluoridated water, a review of fluoride additives, and a study to ensure fluoride does not negatively affect control efforts. utility company corrosion.

Time and resources were also required to install, test and integrate new storage tanks and metering pumps with the existing automated system.

“If you were to look at it from an infrastructure perspective, it wouldn’t seem like a lot of equipment. But there was a lot of thinking and planning that we had to do… a lot of testing, analysis and sampling,” Rossi said. “That was quite a long process. We start in 2020.”

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Fluoridation was originally anticipated to resume in 2021, but supply chain issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the plan.

Rossi said $850,000 has been budgeted for the reintroduction, and future annual costs have been estimated at $150,000. “The infrastructure is not very extensive. We don’t have to build a whole building and delivery structure.”

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Dr. Charles Frank, a longtime Windsor dentist and current president of the Ontario Dental Association, thinks Enwin’s announcement is cause for celebration.

“I’m excited about it. It’s been a long time coming,” Frank said.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but the facts are the facts: Scientists agree that community water fluoridation at the recommended level is very safe and highly effective in preventing tooth enamel decay.”

“Let’s be clear on this: We tested it without fluoride for nine years and have seen the result…poor dental health in the community.”

But the news has not been well received by all.

The Unifor Windsor Regional Environmental Council issued a statement that it does not support the return of fluoridation.

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According to the union group, fluoride is the only chemical that is widely distributed for medical purposes, “without the consent of the people who consume it.”

“Under what moral authority does any politician think they have to make a decision on behalf of an entire community to add a questionable chemical compound to a public resource, whether (the community) wants it to or not?” wrote Richard St. Denis of Unifor Local 444.

There has also been a lot of backlash on the “Windsor-Essex Fluoride Free” Facebook page, an online community group with more than 1,500 followers.

“It’s happening people,” read one post. “Please raise your objections. Require warning for pregnant women and new parents.”

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Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, the region’s acting medical officer of health, said Monday that the return of fluoride in drinking water “is a good thing” as it benefits the dental health of the community.

“It’s particularly good for people from more disadvantaged social backgrounds,” Nesathurai said.

Health unit executive director Nicole Dupuis said overall dental health in the Windsor-Essex region has fallen below the provincial average and access to dental health care has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19. “We’re happy to see that (fluoride) is making a comeback,” Dupuis said.

Windsor had been without fluoride in its drinking water since 2013. The city council at the time, including then-Mayor Eddie Francis, voted to stop fluoridating, against the health unit’s recommendations.

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Five years later, in December 2018, a reconstituted Windsor city council voted 8-3 to resume fluoridation.

Along with the addition of new members to the city council, a major factor in the vote was the health unit’s 2018 Oral Health Report, which noted a significant decline in regional dental health, especially among children.

According to that report, the average number of cavities among Windsor-Essex residents has risen steadily, and there was a 51 percent increase in serious cavities among children over the age of five.

But Ward 1 Count. Fred Francis argued at the time that the health unit study did not show a direct correlation between fluoride removal and increased tooth decay.

“In my opinion, it’s very harsh,” said Francis, who, like his brother Eddie, voted against fluoridation.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens was another notable vote against fluoridation.

It was Dilkens’ motion from 2013, when he was a councilman, that prompted Windsor to stop fluoride in the first place.

The mayor declined to comment on Enwin’s recent announcement.

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