Microbiological and Chemical Quality of Packaged Sachet Water and Household Stored Drinking Water in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Packaged drinking water (PW) sold in bottles and plastic bags/sachets is widely consumed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and many urban users in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rely on packaged sachet water (PSW) as their primary source of water for consumption. However, few rigorous studies h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-07, Vol.10 (7), p.e0131772-e0131772
Main Authors: Fisher, Michael B, Williams, Ashley R, Jalloh, Mohamed F, Saquee, George, Bain, Robert E S, Bartram, Jamie K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arsenic - analysis
Bacteria
Chemical contamination
Chemical pollution
Coliforms
Comparative analysis
Consumer Product Safety - standards
Contamination
Drinking water
Drinking Water - chemistry
Drinking Water - microbiology
E coli
Electronic mail systems
Engineering
Enterobacteriaceae - isolation & purification
Environmental science
Escherichia coli - isolation & purification
Fluorides - analysis
Food contamination & poisoning
Government agencies
Health surveillance
Households
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
International organizations
Iron - analysis
Laws, regulations and rules
Manganese - analysis
Manufacturing industry
Microbiology
Mineral water
Nitrates - analysis
Plastics
Porphyrins - analysis
Public health
Safety regulations
Sierra Leone
Supplies
Supply chains
Water Microbiology
Water Purification - instrumentation
Water Purification - methods
Water quality
Water Quality - standards
Water Supply - standards
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Summary:Packaged drinking water (PW) sold in bottles and plastic bags/sachets is widely consumed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and many urban users in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rely on packaged sachet water (PSW) as their primary source of water for consumption. However, few rigorous studies have investigated PSW quality in SSA, and none have compared PSW to stored household water for consumption (HWC). A clearer understanding of PSW quality in the context of alternative sources is needed to inform policy and regulation. As elsewhere in SSA, PSW is widely consumed in Sierra Leone, but government oversight is nearly nonexistent. This study examined the microbiological and chemical quality of a representative sample of PSW products in Freetown, Sierra Leone at packaged water manufacturing facilities (PWMFs) and at points of sale (POSs). Samples of HWC were also analyzed for comparison. The study did not find evidence of serious chemical contamination among the parameters studied. However, 19% of 45 PSW products sampled at the PWMF contained detectable Escherichia coli (EC), although only two samples exceeded 10 CFU/100 mL. Concentrations of total coliforms (TC) in PSW (but not EC) increased along the supply chain. Samples of HWC from 60 households in Freetown were significantly more likely to contain EC and TC than PSW at the point of production (p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0131772