Bacteriological and Physical Quality of Locally Packaged Drinking Water in Kampala, Uganda

Abstract

Objective. To assess the bacteriological and physical quality of locally packaged drinking water sold for public consumption. Methods. This was cross-sectional study where a total of 60 samples of bottled water from 10 brands and 30 samples of sachet water from 15 brands purchased randomly were analyzed for bacteriological contamination (total coliform and faecal coliform per 100 mL) using membrane filtrate method and reported in terms of cfu/100 mL. Results. Both bottled water and sachet water were not contaminated with faecal coliform. Majority (70%, 21/30) of the sachet water analyzed exceeded acceptable limits of 0 total coliforms per 100 mL set by WHO and the national drinking water standards. The physical quality (turbidity and pH) of all the packaged water brands analyzed was within the acceptable limits. There was statistically significant difference between the median count of total coliform in both sachet water and bottled water brands (U(24) = 37.0, p = 0.027). Conclusion. Both bottled water and sachet water were not contaminated with faecal coliforms; majority of sachet water was contaminated with total coliform above acceptable limits. Government and other stakeholders should consider intensifying surveillance activities and enforcing strict hygienic measures in this rapidly expanding industry to improve packaged water quality.

Commercial Drinking Water Quality and Safety in Bo City, Sierra Leone

“…The results of this study found that factoryproduced sachet water in Bo is generally safe but that the quality of hand-tied water sachets is inconsistent. This conclusion was also reached by similar studies in Ghana (Oyelude and Ahenkorah, 2012) and Uganda (Halage et al, 2015), and was the conclusion of a systematic review of the global literature (Williams, 2015) on commercial drinking water safety. The hand-tying process introduces the risk of faecal and non-faecal coliform contamination from water workers (Oludairo, 2015).…”

Comparative Study on the Physicochemical and Bacteriological Quality of Some Drinking Water Sources in Abuja, Nigeria

“…Overall, the different sources of drinking water sampled in this study revealed more healthy water sources than those reported by [31] [45] and even in neighbouring Kampala, Uganda [46], an indication that the sampled sachet water in this study is safer for drinking and adequate for domestic water purposes.…”

“…Before water can be described as potable, it has to comply with certain physical, chemical and microbiological standards which are designed to ensure that the water is potable, safe for drinking thus studies have been conducted to ascertain these parameters in varying drinking water sources [27][28][29][30][31][32], well water [33][34][35][36][37], borehole water [38][39][40][41][42][43], lake [44], packaged water [45][46] and stream/river water [47][48]. It on these bases that this research is conducted to determine the qualities of drinking water sources in Idu district, Abuja, Nigeria.…”

Quality Evaluation of Different Brands of Bottled Water Sold in Uyo Metropolis

“…[22] Halega et al found World Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences stakeholders to intensify surveillance activities and enforce strict hygienic measures to packaged water industries and retail outlets to improve water quality (Halega, 2015). Out of the twelve water samples analysed in the current study, only samples B, D, E and G could be considered for recommendation, having satisfied all the parameters tested (table 9).…”