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2. The scheme formulated for the Company's area, particularly as applied to the
unattended stations, has no precedent and, therefore, contains a number
of quite original and untried proposals which may need amendment in the
light of experience.
3. The vital need for safety has been given first priority throughout the preparation
of the proposals.
4. In order to maintain the proposed standards of testing and control, it will be
necessary to examine more than 36,500 samples annually—of these some 300
will be subjected to test by distillation.
5. Several years may be needed for the full and complete implementation of the
scheme.
6. The total annual cost is estimated at £65,414 which, for a population in
found figures of 603,000 gives a unit cost per head of 2s. 2d.
The estimated unit cost per head of 2s. 2d. is considerably in excess of the about
10d. per head of population quoted in the Report No. 105 issued by the Government
on Fluoridation. The Lee Valley Water Company give the following reasons to
account for this increase; scattered situations of the water sources, the number of
unmanned stations and the fact that no softening is carried out.
However, the cost of fluoridation should be related to the cost of dental treatment.
In 1961 the cost of dental treatment under the National Health Service (excluding
the cost of the school dental service) was over £44 million. This is about 17/- per
head of population. (30/- per head in Middlesex.) Recently the United States
Public Health Service estimated that the treatment of dental cavities now prevented
by fluoride would cost 56 times as much as fluoridation.
In December this year the Council resolved that the report of the Lee Valley Water
Company be accepted.
It is a fact that each and every medical and scientific body that has studied
fluoridation has come to the selfsame conclusion that fluoridation is necessary, effective
and extremely safe.
WATER SUPPLY
The water supply to all dwellings in the Borough is direct from the public water
mains and no supplies are given by means of standpipes. The Lee Valley Water
Company distribute the water, part of which is supplied via a bulk supply from the
Metropolitan Water Board.
Five hundred and five bacteriological and 19 chemical samples of water from the
distribution system were examined by the Company and were reported to conform
to standards of purity considered suitable for public supply.
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