When replying please quote:
27 June 2022
Dr Ashley Bloomfield
Director-General of Health
P O Box 5013
WELLINGTON 6140
Email: [email address]
Dear Sir
COMMUNITY WATER FLUORIDATION
Thank you for the opportunity to provide further comment on Council’s readiness to fluoridate.
At the time of our response of 7 March we were working on an improvement plan for the New
Plymouth Water Treatment Plant. The purpose of this improvement plan was to assess options to
improve the seismic resilience of the WTP building and the compliance of our chemical storage
facilities, along with considering options for maintaining adequate water treatment capacity for the
predicted population growth over the next 30 years.
At a workshop held in mid-June it was identified that the existing chemical storage and dosing
equipment will be best relocated to a new purpose built facility, designed and constructed to current
seismic and legislative requirements. Subject to Council approval processes the work would
commence in July 2024 and is estimated to take two years to complete. If instructed to fluoridate the
New Plymouth water supply, Council will install fluoride dosing equipment at the same time as this
work is undertaken.
If Council is required to fluoridate earlier than this, then a temporary installation will be required.
Any equipment installed before the chemical dosing equipment is relocated would need to be
abandoned when the new chemical storage and dosing upgrade is completed.
We do not have any reliable estimates for this work as we do not have a clear understanding of the
scope of the work yet. Cost estimation is also very uncertain in the current construction market.
The capital costs submitted in March are a Class 5 estimates (in our system this means it is an estimate
with the lowest level of certainty as we have no design upon which to base costs). Also they were
based on the installation of fluoride dosing equipment within our existing building. It was not known
at the time the costs were submitted that we would not be able to resolve the building seismic issues
without relocating the chemical storage and dosing facility. Given the current inflationary
environment and volatility in the construction market it is expected that costs could be significantly
higher.
The ongoing operating costs were estimated at the time of our March response. To provide a fluoride
dose of 0.7mg/L based on recent water volume to supply, the total annual cost of operating and
maintaining the fluoride dosing to the New Plymouth water supply would be $35,000 - $40,000.
Again, these are cost estimates with a significant degree of uncertainty given the current price
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volatility. This Opex cost is not included in our current budgets and we would need to seek Council
approval to increase budgets.
The low level of confidence in the cost estimates and the short term usable life for any dosing
equipment installed now should be taken into account in any cost benefit analysis undertaken.
Yours faithfully
Mark Hall
THREE WATERS MANAGER
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