The City of Calgary on Thursday morning said its plan to add fluoride to drinking water has been delayed again, this time until late spring or early summer of 2025.
Calgary had fluoride in its water supply from 1991 to 2011. In 2021, however, a 62% plebiscite in favour of the reintroduction of fluoride to the public water supply resulted in plans being laid to add it once again.
The city in its fluoride update said infrastructure equipment has been installed at both the Glenmore and Bearspaw Water Treatment Plants and are “now in the commissioning phase.”
As this commissioning phase got underway, city officials discovered more time is needed to “ensure all equipment and systems are checked, inspected and tested to ensure they are all performing as designed.”
“As a result, the reintroduction of fluoride is expected later in the second quarter of 2025,” states the press release.
Calgarians will be informed four weeks prior to the release of fluoride into the water system.
When equipment reached the end of its 20-year lifecycle in 2011, city council decided to end the fluoridation process and remove the equipment from the water system.
Infrastructure upgrades to allow for the new system include a “retrofit of an existing building” at the Glenmore plant, a new building at the Bearspaw plant and installing the new fluoride equipment.
The fluoride infrastructure cost $28.1 million upfront, with additional annual maintenance and operating costs of $1 million. The project is paid for through council-approved water rates, and is not taken from property taxes, said the city in its press release.
The fluoridated water will also go out to regional consumers as well, including Chestermere, Airdrie, Strathmore and some areas of Foothills County, Rocky View County and Tsuut’ina Nation.
Fluoride levels are naturally found in water supplies at a lower ratio, usually between 0.1 to 0.4 mg/L, “which are too low to prevent cavities,” states the city.
Alberta Health Services and Health Canada state a 0.7 mg/L of fluoride is an “effective” and “healthy” ratio, but various longitudinal studies have shown anything higher than that can cause complications, including lowered intelligence in young children. It has also been linked to ADHD and weakened bone density.