GLADSTONE area residents can expect to have fluoride in their water by December 31.
Not everybody in the Gladstone region will consider fluoridation as the ideal present, but the State Government will deliver it at Christmas as part of its mandatory fluoridation of public water supplies.
Gladstone is the first regional area, along with Rockhampton, to have the benefit or the bane, depending on your viewpoint, of fluoridation.
The Gladstone area Water Board has called for companies to tender for the design, supply, delivery, installation, testing and commissioning for a fluoride dosing plant. The installations will be at the Gladstone and the Yarwun Water treatment plants to a concentration of 0.7mg/L.
GAWB CEO Jim Grayson said GAWB was required to comply with the government initiative. He said as the government had agreed to fund fluoridation there would be no cost to its customers, which in this case is Gladstone Regional Council.
According to the State Government, water fluoridation helps protect teeth against decay in people of all ages and is a fair way of delivering the benefits of fluoride to the community.
The World Health Organisation supports the use of fluoride and its addition to water supplies is also backed by doctors and dentists. But others in the medical field have expressed doubts about its effectiveness.
Former Federal Health Minister, Dr Doug Everingham a one time supporter of fluoridation, is now an opponent of the practice, saying fluoride medication could lead to cases of disorders in humans and animals.