Quality of “Sachet” Waters in the Cape Coast Municipality of Ghana

Abstract

To determine the quality of sachet water samples in the Cape Coast municipality of Ghana, random sampling procedures were used to collect 180 samples from 29 brands produced in the municipality from 1999 to 2004. For any particular year, each tested brand was sampled three times at intervals of not less than 2 weeks (usually monthly) between the months of March to June. Forty-five percent (45%) of the brands subjected to bacteriological examination contained coliform bacteria for one sampling period or another during the period of investigation. The coliform contamination seemed to be more prevalent with some particular brands. Three out of seven brands examined in 2004 also recorded the presence of E. coli. Exceedances were recorded for WHO drinking water quality guidelines for pH (6.25-7.93) in 2002 and for conductivity (67-306 microS cm(-1)) in 2002 and 2004. Total hardness values for all sachet water brands were less than 100 mg/l CaCO(3) and therefore below the WHO limit for potable water. None of the samples seems to pose any health dangers as far as the major cations; sodium (17.4-19.1 mg/l), potassium (5.7-6.2 mg/l), calcium (8.0-24.0 mg/l) and magnesium (19.9-50 mg/l) are concern. Apart from nitrite, for which some exceedances were recorded and phosphate which does not have an established WHO guideline, the measured major anions (i.e., chloride: 1.57-37.7 mg/l, sulfate: 0.33-44.33 mg/l and nitrates: 0.005-0.70 mg/l) were within the WHO drinking water guideline. No exceedances were also recorded for iron and lead. In general, the high quality claimed for sachet waters could not be confirmed based on the measured physico-chemical and bacteriological properties. The variable quality and in some cases, poor water quality observed, likely reflects the fact that the sachets are not always bagged under scrutinized sanitary conditions.

Sachet Water Quality and Brand Reputation in Two Low-Income Urban Communities in Greater Accra, Ghana

“…Several studies have reported poor bacteriologic or physiochemical quality of sachet water in Ghana over the past decade, [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] although a recent review of this literature through 2010 found that most sachet quality studies have suffered design flaws such as tiny samples sizes or egregiously nonrandom sampling. 3 The sachet water industry has also undergone significant transformation since the late 2000s because many cottage-industry players have been replaced by large corporate-type producers who are importing heavy industrial machinery to filter and process sachet and bottled water.…”

Seasonal Evaluation of Raw, Treated and Distributed Water Quality from the Barekese Dam (River Offin) in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

“…Recent studies have documented coliform pollution of shallow wells and groundwater (Obiri-Danso et al 2009), rivers (Abdul-Razak et al 2009), rural and municipal domestic water supply (Ampofo 1997;Quagraine and Adokoh 2009), "sachet" and hand-tied drinking water (Dodoo et al 2006;Obiri-Danso et al 2003) in different parts of Ghana. As important as these studies are in revealing the health dangers associated with coliform bacteria, none of the papers confronted the issue through a well designed sampling programme to assess the sources of these pollutants in treated waters based on prevailing environmental conditions.…”

Decision Making for Capacity Expansion of Water Supply Systems

“…Potable water scarcity in the region has become a "normal" problem for some decades now, and this compels the Ghana Water Company Limited to ration water. The inadequate water supply greatly affects productivity and has promoted the rampant water vending business of tanker and sachet water services with very doubtful water quality [22].…”