Mount Isa residents will be drinking fluoridated water by December.

The water board will today name the winner of a tender process to fluoridate the local supply.

The board is legally obliged to proceed with plans to fluoridate the city’s water, despite concerns expressed by the local Member, Rob Katter, that fluoridation is risky.

Chairwoman Rowena McNally says Mount Isa residents do not have any legal right to halt fluoridation because the board, rather than the council, delivers water to the city.

“In Mount Isa, the water is treated by the Mount Isa Water Board,” she said.

“Perhaps in other places that might be a council function but in Mount Isa … at least [since] the early ’70s, the processing and treatment of water has been done by the Mount Isa Water Board and we’re legally obliged to add fluoride.

“We have a legal requirement to ensure that the fluoridisation [sic] process is completed by 31 December, 2012, so that means that we have to make sure that we are applying fluoride to the water in accordance with the Water Fluoridisation [sic] Act by the end of the year.”

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