Assessment of the physico-chemical and microbiological levels of sachet water in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of the Ashanti region of Ghana

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
OCTOBER, 2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Increase in human population has exerted an enormous pressure on the provision of safe drinking water; hence its availability has therefore become a critical and urgent problem especially in developing countries. Sachet water production is therefore one major way of making quality drinking water readily available and accessible to people at an affordable price. The study was conducted in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of the Ashanti region of Ghana between February and April, 2013 to determine the quality of seven different brands of sachet water which are produced and sold within the district. Two different storage places (inside a shop and a metal cage which is left outside) as well as two vending places (a refrigerator or an ice chest and street hawking) were identified. Sachet water samples from all the selected brands were analyzed for the levels of physico-chemical parameters as well as microbiological indicators at the various stages (production, storage and vending). The results showed that all the physico-chemical parameters, with the exception of Phosphate (6.22 ± 0.01 mg/l) for brand SW 4 were within permissible limits at the time of production. Consequently, the microbiological indicators in all the brands at the time of production were below detectable limits (0 CFU/100 ml). At the two storage places, the results showed that sachet water samples stored inside the metal cage recorded higher values in most of the physico-chemical parameters than those stored inside the shop, even though all were within the WHO’s permissible limits. Moreover, the results indicated that the Alkalinity (p = 0.00117), Chloride (p = 1.1019E-12), Fluoride (p = 0.03026), Magnesium (p = 4.9E-6) and Phosphate (p = 0.0044) levels were significantly different at the two storage places. Similarly, sachet water vended through street hawking recorded higher values than those vended through the refrigerator, even though all were within the WHO’s guideline limits. Levels of microbiological indicators at the time of production remained unchanged at the storage and vending places. The general conclusion is that the quality of the sachet water in the district is good for human consumption.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements Master of Science degree in Environmental Science,
Keywords
Citation