Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Sachet Waters in Ikole and Oye Local Government Areas of Ekiti State, Nigeria

In the bid to ensure adequate water supply, packaged water has been introduced and widely accepted to provide safe and affordable drinking water in many rural and urban settlements of Nigeria. In spite of the varying levels of contamination widely reported, sachet water is still well accepted. This study therefore assessed social perception of people on the most popular sachet water brands, conducted sensory evaluation, quality certification and packaging and storage quality evaluation of sachet water samples. It also assessed the Physico-chemical and coliforms count of popular brands using standard laboratory procedures. For the study, two study areas; Ikole and Oye Local Government Areas of Ekiti state, Nigeria were selected. Eight samples from the popular sachet water brands (four samples per local government areas) were purchased from water vendors and labeled alphabets A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. Flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Phoenix-986) was used for the determination of lead, chromium and cadmium in the sample. Data obtained were subjected to simple descriptive statistical analysis. The result revealed that the characteristics of the water samples include 7.4 – 6.7 (pH), 0.04 – 0.1µS/cm (EC), 33.0 – 18.0 mg/L (Chloride), 15.2 – 6.0 mg/L (Calcium), 0.32 – 0.08 mg/L (Nitrate), 16.0 – 4.0 mg/L (Magnesium), 94.0 – 24.0 mg/L (Total Alkalinity), 34.0 – 18.0 mg/L (Sulphate), 70.0 – 30.0 mg/L (Manganese), 40.0 – 10.0 mg/L (Iron), 62.0 – 27.0 mg/L (Zinc) and with an average coliform count of 18.58 MNP/100ml. The physico-chemical analysis indicated that the average values of the parameters were all below the Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) and World Health Organisation (WHO) permissible limits. Bacteriological analysis in terms of total coliform revealed that sample D from Oye local government area showed positive coliform count value of 18.00 ± 0.58 MPN/100ml making it unfit for portability. The aerobic mesophilic count for sample D from Oye of 2.1 x 102 exceeded the WHO, 1.0x102 permissible limit. The study advocates proper water treatment by water manufacturers and strict monitoring for compliance by the regulatory agencies.