BACTERIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICO-CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF SACHET WATER SOLD IN OLOKORO, ABIA STATE

CHAPTER ONE

5.0           Introduction

Water is needed by all forms of life, man, animals and plants. It is present in almost all parts of the earth, about three quarter ¾ of the entire  earth surface is making up of water and it exists in three states, vapour, liquid and solid water supplies are derived from springs, rivers, reservoirs, boreholes and natural lakes.

The water passes through the ground and during which it dissolves some minerals in rocks, suspended particles and pathogenic microorganisms from fecal matters. These and other factors make water unfit for drinking leading to problem of scarcity or insufficient potable water (Raymand, 1992). The sheet drinking water was introduced into the Nigeria market as less expensive means of accessing drinking water than bottled water (Ogundipe, 2008).

          Good quality water is odourless, colourless, tasteless and free from fecal pollution. A reliable supply of clean wholesome water is highly essential in a bid to promoting healthy living among the inhabitants of a defined geographical region. Safe and potable water supplies in urban areas in Nigeria are still inadequate in spite of four decades of independence and several efforts from various governments. The standard industrialization world model for delivering of safe drinking water and sanitation technology is however, not affordable in most of the developing countries (Goal, 2006). it was reported that in Nigeria, about 80% of all diseases and 30% of death are water related 9Dada, 1997) pure water also acts as an improvement over the format types of drinking water in packaged for sale to consumers in hand filled, hand tied polythene bags (ice water). Today, the easy accessibility to drinking water in packaged forms has resulted in a big and thriving water industry with several hundred of million litres of these water products consumed every year by Nigerians (Ogundipe, 2008).

                Water constitutes a sizeable percentage of our daily food in-take, as human bodies do not have reverse supply and due to its natural abundance, it is considered a universal solvent (Nwosu, 2004). Going by the renewed global commitments toward the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs), marked for 2015, the importance and contribution of locally sourced low-cost alternative drinking water scheme to sustainable access in rural and urban settings of developing nations cannot be over emphasized one of such intention in Nigeria where public drinking water supply is unreliable is drinking water sold in polythene bag (SON, 2000).

            Sachets water is readily available and affordable, but there are concerns about it’s purity. The integrity of the hygienic environment and conditions where the majority of the water in sachets are produced has been question. Apart from the environmental contaminants, contamination from improper vendor handling also poses threats the health of the ignorant consumers who drink often without any proper cleaning of the sachets. Therefore, water related diseases continued to be of the major health problems globally (SON, 2000).

The National Agency for food Agency for food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is mandated to enforce compliance with intentionally defined drinking water guidelines, but regulation of the packaged water industry aimed at good quality assurance has remained at challenge to the agency. To control this manse of contaminated water in sachets, NAFDAC declared a possible gradual nationwide barn on sachets water to allow of manufacturers of sachets water to start winding down or change of bottle packaging. Successful implementation of this barn has reminded for rom reality is the sachets water market is witnessing tremendous growth especially among the poor and middle social classes pure water as it is popularly called is assumed to be of sufficient quality to serve as drinking water, treated and packaged in transparent sachets with name, address of manufacturer, expiry date, NAFDAC number and logo boldly printed on it (Olejeme, 2001).

              Water plays an indispensible role in sustenance of life and it is a key pillar of health determinant, since 80% of diseases in developing countries are due to lack of good quality water (Cheesbrough, 2006). Drinking water quality management has been a key pillar of primary prevention of disease for over one and half centuries and it continues to be the foundation for the prevention and control of water borne disease (WHO, 2010). Contaminated water is a global public health threat placing people at risk of host of diarrhea and other illness as well as chemical intoxication (Okonko, 2009).

Many years of neglect by the government and inadequate investment has left the public drinking water supply in Nigeria in an unreliable state. The society has therefore taken several adaptive measures of alleviating this stress. One of these is dependent on sachet water, popularly referred to as pure water (Dada, 2009).

                 In related study, (Taiwo, 2012) noted that the bacteriological and physio-chemical properties observed in all the sachet water samples analyzed were within the world Health Organization showed an improvement in the quality of sachets water produced in Olokoro as at the time of study had offensive taste and all the parameters did not meet the recommended standards for potable water stipulated by the WHO.

1.1       Sources of Water

Water naturally exist in three main sources; Rain water, ground water and surface water.

       Rain water is naturally the purest source of water but as it gets down it absorbs from the atmosphere. The concentration can vary from 0.1 to 10µg/ml. The rain water can be collected from roofs and prepared water sheds which could assists in polluting and making it one of the most unfit sources of water for drinking.

     Ground water are said to have gotten from the melting of metabolic water (rain, snow and hail stone). Surface water include stream, ponds and lakes. The concentration components here are more than those in rain and ground water. The salt content in it is so much that it cannot be used as drinking water because it would take the body a lot of work to flush out excess salt before salt before from metabolism.

1.2       Importance of Water

Water is an indispensable rain material for a multitude of domestic and industrial purpose. Water is the most abundant material, it’s cheap production with less than 500ppm impurities will be more important to the world than atomic energy, as we all know it today.

      Domestic uses of water include; cooking, drinking etc. The human body contains 55% to 70% water depending on the body size. To function properly, the body require between one and seven litres of water to avoid dehydration; the precise amount depends on the level of activity, humidity and other factors. It is not clear how much water in-take healthy people need, though most advocates agree that 6-7 glasses of water daily is the minimum to maintain proper hydration.

Water is used in biochemical processes, it is central to photosynthesis and respiration photosynthetic cells are the sun’s energy to split off water molecular (Photolysis of water) to form hydrogen and water.

In agriculture, the most important use of water is for irrigation, which is widely used in chemical enough food. Water is widely used in chemical reactions as a solvent, dissolving many ionic compounds in organic reactions if does not dissolve the reactions well and is amphoteric (acid and base) and nucleophilic.

Water is used in power generation. Hydro-electricity is electricity obtained from hydropower. Hydro electric power comes from water driving and water turbine connected to generations. It is also used in the cooling of machinery to prevent over cheating as in vehicle radiators.

1.3       Water Quality

The Importance of high quality water cannot be over-emphasized as it sustains human life and maintain health. Most water, before they reach the consumers, have been exposed to greater or lesser amount of contamination, but in the majority of case, they undergo a more or less complete purification by natural agencies. The standard of water in Nigeria should be in line with the World health Organization (WHO) Standard.

Water delivered to the consumer should be clear, odourless, tasteless and colourless. It should contain no pathogenic organisms and be free from biological forms, which may be harmful to human health.

1.4 Water Pollution

              Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans and ground water. All water pollution affects organisms and plants that lives in these water bodies and in almost all cases the effect is damaging either to individual, species or population or also to the natural biological communities. It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful constituents.

The point sources of water pollution include waste generated by human settlements, domestic, commercial and industrial activities and the precipitation of atmosphere pollutants. Water pollutants types can be categorized into the following;

i.               Physical pollutants: They include, silts, clay, discarded objects, weeds, decaying organic matter which generally affect the aesthetic quality of surface waters.

ii.              Chemical pollutants: they are non-biodegradable toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury as well as persistent and hazardous organic pollutants such as pesticides, Phenols and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons.

iii.            Microbial pollutants: These pollutants arise from the discharge effluents from domestic sources and manufacturing industries into surface water. Fecal contaminants can also lead to microbial pollutants.

Other sources of pollution include petroleum hydrocarbons (fuels like gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuels, and fuel oil) and lubricants (motor oil) and fuel combustion by-products from storm, water run-off, In organic water pollutants include acidity caused by industrial discharges especially sulphur dioxide from power plants, heavy metals from motor vehicles. Also fertilizers containing nutrients (nitrates and phosphates), which are found in storm, water run-off from agriculture, as well as commercial and residential use.

1.5       Portable Water

Water to be used for human consumption must be meeting certain requirements. It must be free of all disease causing microorganisms, low in concentration of compound that are acutely toxic or that have serious long term effect on health. Ideally water for drinking should be clear, free of odour and compound that can cause colour or taste.

The quality of drinking water has attracted great attention worldwide because of implied public health impacts. Sachet packaged drinking water is common in Nigeria. It is often found as major sources of water at food canteens and sold by many food vendors in the country. The majority of the population consume it. Hence the need to ascertain the qualities of sachet water in order to safeguard the health of consumers.

Many common and widespread health risks have been found to be associated with drinking water in developing countries, a large percentage of which are biological origin (Trivedi, 1997).

The guidelines for drinking water quality (WHO) are intended for use by countries as a basis for the development of national standards which if properly implemented will ensure the safety of drinking water supplier (WHO, 2003).

1.6 Aims and Objectives

1.         To ascertain if the sachet water sold in Olokoro conforms to WHO standard.

2.         To provide information so the public of the dangers that may occur as a result of sachet water consumption.

3.         To know if the water contains fecal coliforms.

4.         To determine the microbial load of sachet water and compare it with the standard or acceptable microbial load, in order to ascertain if the water samples are fit for human consumption or not.

5.         To identify possible microbial, physical and chemical contaminants associated with sachet water sold in Olokoro.

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