Cost of adding fluoride to Calgary's water triples as project timeline delayed

Resuming fluoridation in Calgary's water supply is going to be a longer and more costly process than originally expected.

The plan was set in motion after a council vote and decision to reimplement fluoridation of the drinking water system in November of 2021 and was initially expected to be complete by June of 2024.

It's now been delayed by three months with an expected end date of September of next year. The costs affiliated with the project have also nearly tripled from an initial estimate of of $10.1 million to $28.1 million.

"The early estimate that was shared with council back in 2020 was a high level conceptual estimate with limited information known at the time," said Tanner Fellinger, the city of Calgary's utilities delivery manager. 

"When we actually went through the detailed design aspects of it, we were able to fully realize the scope of work that was required for the project."

That work includes additional building which was originally not accounted, Fellinger said. 

Existing infrastructure cannot be used because it reached the end of its life cycle in 2011 and was decommissioned and removed following council's decision to stop fluoridation.

But the delay, and the initial removal of the chemical from the city's water supply, have been a problem for Calgary, according to a medical expert.

"We were dismayed to know that it was going to be June 2024 and then very sad to learn that it was going to be further delayed to September 2024," said Juliet Guichon, the president of Calgarians for Kids Health.

"The lack of fluoridation is an urgent problem that is appearing in the hospitals throughout Calgary in the form of infection and in the form of the need for anesthesia for young children to have treatment of dental decay." 

Fluoride naturally occurs in the Bow and Elbow Rivers, in concentrations varying throughout the year, between 0.1 and 0.4 mg/L.

In 1998, the city and Alberta Health Services reviewed water fluoridation as a public policy. A panel of five experts recommended a reduction in the level of fluoride to 0.7 mg/L. The change was adopted in 1999 following a second plebiscite where Calgarians again voted in favour of fluoridation by 55 per cent.

That lasted until 2011 when City of Calgary discontinued the addition of fluoride to Calgary's drinking water as directed by council on May 19, 2011.

During the 2021 municipal election, Calgarians voted 61 per cent in favour of again implementing fluoride in the city's water system.

Updated costs of adding fluoride to the city's water include a $864,000 for annual operating costs and between $100,000 and $200,000 for annual maintenance costs.

"Nobody can argue that it's expensive, it's very inexpensive and the savings are about $55 per Calgarian per year," Guichon said.

"Those savings come in avoided dental costs and avoided medical treatment costs when people have to go to emergency because they have an infection or when parents have to take a very young child for dental care under anesthesia." 

Coun. Andre Chabot, who voted against the 2021 motion to reintroduce fluoride to the tap water, said that one of the reasons he did so was because he thought the costs presented in the reintroduction plan were underestimated. 

"As it turns out, I was right," he said. "It's more than double what they anticipated."

The Ward 10 councillor suggested that the project be delayed further so that his fellow council members could review the latest studies and make a more informed decision down the line.

Chabot was also on council in 2011 when they decided to initially remove fluoride from the water.