Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the percentage of water involved in fluoridation schemes that reaches the teeth of children it is designed to benefit, taking account of industrial, agricultural, municipal, domestic and other usage, and of the leakage from mains supplies.

The 2008 Water Strategy for England reported that households account for 52% of the use of public water supplies. Around 7% of the water used in homes is used for drinking and cooking; an additional percentage will be used for tooth brushing.

There are no separate figures for water supplied in fluoridation schemes. Such schemes tend to supply more urban areas and it is reasonable to expect a greater domestic use than would be the case for supplies serving areas with significant agricultural or industrial use.