BUNDABERG Regional Council will have another go at getting the State Government to reverse its decision on the forced fluoridation of water.

The council thought it had gained an exemption after talks with Premier Campbell Newman and Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney.

But last month Health Minister Lawrence Springborg confirmed the Bundaberg council would have to go ahead with fluoridating its water supply.

Council water and wastewater spokesman Alan Bush said yesterday council representatives had made an appointment to see Mr Springborg and Local Government Minister David Crisafulli.

They would meet during the Local Government Association of Queensland annual conference, which starts on October 22.

“We’ll have a talk and tell them about the costs of it all,” Cr Bush said.

“I believe commonsense has to prevail.

“They want to cut costs and save money and here’s a perfect example.”

Cr Bush said up until the beginning of this week the council had had no official notification they had to go ahead with fluoridation.

He said the council had made a submission to Mr Newman.

“We were told there was a form, we had to fill in, then we were told there was no form,” he said.

Cr Bush said the council could not afford the cost of the project.

“We’ve got a very big maintenance project going where we’re upgrading the water supply,” he said.

“Some of the pipes are 80 years old and we have to start replacing them.”

Cr Bush said the council did not want to stall that project while it put fluoridation in.

He said the fluoridation infrastructure would cost $7.8 million to install, of which the State Government would supply $6.5 million.

The ongoing costs would be about $800,000 a year, which the council would have to fund.

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