Council was forced to stop adding the chemical after equipment at the treatment plant failed, just a fortnight after council voted to keep fluoridating supplies.

It was previously revealed it had not been added to the town’s water supplies for several months due to concerns about dust issues in the dosing room.

Council chief executive officer Barry Omundson says testing of the equipment has found it was not tampered with.

“A motor did burn out and also we had some slide valve issues as well,” he said.

“They’ve been repaired and the suppliers are confident they’ve rectified it and they’ll be [on] site next week to install and recommissioning trials will commence.

“The suppliers have assured us that it was a mechanical error and they’ve rectified it.”

Mr Omundson says they have not agreed on who will foot the $100,000 repair cost.

“We’re talking with the supplier at this stage we haven’t ascertained that,” he said.

“We always have to balance the budget so if there’s money to be spent or something to repair in terms of safety, then we’ll have to look for it in other areas of our budget.

“But we haven’t ascertained as yet if it’s our commitment to pay this or not.”

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