The Narromine Shire Council, in the state’s central west, has agreed to increase fluoride levels in its water supply.

The council is part of the Lower Macquarie Water Utilities Alliance and as part of its membership has agreed to a policy to reach a certain level of fluoridation in its water.

The agreement cites the optimum level of fluoride is about one milligram per litre of water.

The Mayor Bill McAnally says the shire’s water already has naturally occurring fluoride, but it is not enough.

He says it will now look at the infrastructure that will be needed to further fluoridate the water.

“The next step would be to do some costings and all of that on it so we know exactly how much it’s going to cost us to bring it all up to speed,” he said.

“I think Narromine’s got about .27% fluoride in their water already so we’re getting up pretty close to the minimum level.”

Councillor McAnally says the long terms benefit will be worth the cost of the new infrastructure.

“The Lower Water Utilities, it’s a great group and it’s helped all these smaller councils get up to speed with it all and we’re going down that line but there’s a lot of data out there to say that it is extremely good for our teeth health.

“In the end it will have to work out the financial cost of it all before it comes back to council.”

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