ABSTRACT

Bottled and sachet water samples were purchased from nine (9) different communities in Isuochi town of Abia State. Physico-chemical and microbiological analysis were carried out on them to ascertain their wholesomeness using standard methods. Appearance, odour, taste, total dissolved solids (TDS), pH, conductivity, total hardness, Alkalinity, chloride, cadmium of all the samples were within the WHO, NAFDAC/SON guideline whereas chemical constituents like zinc (2.25- 41.97mg/L), copper (1.14-5.03mg/L), calcium ion (2.02-677.4mgfL), magnesium ion (0.33- 131.3 2mg/L) and iron (7.99-19.3 5mg/L) in few samples were above the SON/NAFDAC and WHO recommended limits of 3-5mg/L, 1.0mg/L, 75mgfL, O.2-O.O25mg1L and 0.3mg/L respectively. Four samples out of the whole samples had lead level ranging from 0.19 — 1.67mg/L. These values are above the SONINAFDAC and WHO recommended limits of 0.002 — 0.olmg/L and 0.00 lmg/L respectively. However, eight out of every twenty — five samples were contaminated by coliform bacteria ranging from 1-26 CFUIml. Escherichia coil ranging from 1- 28CFU/100m1 were detected in more than 40% of the water sample brands. This is contrary to the recommendation by SONINAFDAC that E.coii must not be detected in a l0Oml sample of drinking water. On the average, both the bottled and sachet water samples were of good quality. This was probably due to the problem of poor sanitation and the fact that the samples water brands are not always produced under scrutinized hygienic conditions.