Production and Vendor Practices that Compromise the Quality of “Sachet” Water in the Central Region, Ghana

Abstract

Over the years, deteriorating quality of pipe borne water has urged most Ghanaians to patronize sachet water as a safer and cheaper source of drinking water. The study investigated production and vendor practices that compromise quality of sachet water in the Central Region of Ghana. Quasi experimental design - Single Group Interrupted Time Series (SGITS) was used. Six sachet water producing companies and 6 vendors who sell products from these companies were purposively selected. Three sachets (500ml) were sampled from each company and vendor totaling 36 sachets. Membrane Filtration (MF) and Multiple Tube Fermentation (MTF) were used to isolate Total coliform (TC), Fecal coliform (FC), E. coli (EC) and Total heterotrophic bacteria (TH). Borehole water ‘B’ had very low pH (5.3). TC was positive (141 cfu/100ml) in one water sample while all 18 water samples were positive for TH when MF was used probably as a result of the use of inefficient filters. Samples taken from vendors’ sachet packages were more contaminated than those from companies using both MF and MTF. This indicates that production and vendor practices can further contaminate sachet water as was shown by the lack of good manufacturing practices such as observing personal hygiene among company staff. A more proactive approach that identifies risks and puts in place measures at critical points in sachet water production to promote and enhance overall quality will be important. The introduction of membrane filters as a more sensitive way of detecting these parameters as well as the Presence/Absence test as an inexpensive, reliable and easy test in the analysis of sachet water hopefully will help improve and maintain quality. It is recommended that the Ghana Health Services partner with the metropolis to develop a bacteriological water quality monitoring training program to help train producers of sachet water to meet standards.