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Sewerage & Water Board Of New Orleans
Community & Intergovernmental Relations Department
625 St. Joseph Street, Room B-47
New Orleans, Louisiana 70165
504-585-2175
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August 2, 2007
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To: News Media
From: Sewerage & Water Board
Re: Fluoride
Contact: Robert Jackson, 269-7978, or Brenda Thornton, 269-7819
Release: Immediately
S&WB Has Resumed Adding Fluoride To Drinking Water
The Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans has resumed adding fluoride to
the City's drinking water supply. Both the East Bank and Algiers Water
Treatment Plants of Orleans Parish began adding fluoride to the treatment
process on Wednesday, Aug 1, 2007..
The Board was not able to continue the use of fluoride after Katrina
because it was not able to purchase the chemical used. For several years
there has been a national shortage of fluoride and all of the Board's
historical sources for this commodity could not provide the product in the
quantities needed.
Dental and medical studies have consistently shown that the addition of
fluoride at recommended levels contributes greatly to the dental health of a
population and it has been the policy of the Board to perform this treatment
since June of 1974, when fluoride addition began in Orleans Parish.
Water plant and laboratory personnel continuously adjust and measure the levels
of fluoride added to the water to ensure that the level remains in the
beneficial, recommended range of 0.7 to 1.0 parts per million (ppm) in the
finished water.
Katrina did not damage the storage tanks, the feeding equipment or the piping
associated with the fluoride system at either of its water plants. The problem
was that with Katrina's interruption to S&WB water system operations, the
Board's supplier dedicated its supply of fluoride to other customers.
As it became apparent following Katrina that the supplier for fluoride under an
existing contract was not able to fill the Board's needs, an attempt was made
in October of 2006 to attract a new supplier by issuing a request through the
normal bid process. Upon opening the responses on December 16, 2006, there were
no companies offering to sell fluoride to the Board.
A supplier has now been found and fluoride will once again be part of
the treatment process. It should be noted that the current agreement with the
supplier is on a shipment-to-shipment basis, based upon availability on
the spot market. It is possible that the Board could again experience periods
without fluoride until an annual contract can be entered into. If this occurs,
the public will be notified.
The Board's recent purchase of 3,908 gallons of fluoride cost $9,673. The
pre-Katrina cost for the same volume was $2,693.
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