Water Fluoridation Maps

View water fluoridation maps for Australia and New Zealand.

  • What does ppm mean?

    This is an abbreviation for "parts per million" and it also can be expressed as milligrams per liter (mg/L). This measurement is the mass of a chemical or contaminate per unit volume of water. Seeing ppm or mg/L on a lab report means the same thing.

    One ppm is equivalent to the absolute fractional amount multiplied by one million. A better way to think of ppm is to visualize putting four drops of ink in a 55-gallon barrel of water and mixing it thoroughly. This procedure would produce an ink concentration of 1 ppm. Some other analogies that may help you visualize the scale involved with ppm. One ppm is like:

    • one inch in 16 miles,
    • one second in 11.5 days,
    • one minute in two years.

    An even smaller concentration measurement is parts per billion (ppb). One ppb is one part in 1 billion. Because a ppb is a much lower concentration, some analogies would be :

    • one sheet in a roll of toilet paper stretching from New York to London,
    • one second in nearly 32 years, or
    • one pinch of salt in 10 tons of potato chips.

Australia

Water fluoridation update 2012

Water fluoridation 1964 - 1977

A map of Australia showing concentrations of fluoride from 1964-1977 using different colours

New Zealand

These maps have been provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Health.

North Island  South Island