Dorval gets fluoride water back

Dorval's drinking water will soon be fluoridated again, ending a two-year battle between the demerged West Island municipality and the City of Montreal.

Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau said fluoridation should resume on Monday, after years of procedural wrangling with the City of Montreal.

Dorval added fluoride to its drinking water supply for half a century but was forced to stop in 2003, when the filtration system broke down.

The demerged city sought money from the province to refurbish the filtration plant, but Montreal blocked the municipality from accepting Quebec's $400,000 funding offer.

Quebec agreed to let Dorval decide on its own water issue in 2006, butdelays have meant fluoridation still hasn't resumed.

While the Quebec government endorses fluoridation, the City of Montreal does not and the chemical is not added to the island's water supply.

Fluoride is a controversial issue. The mineral has been added to most drinking water supplies in major North American urban centres since the 1940s because of its beneficial effects on tooth enamel.

But opponents believe the compound is carcinogenic.