Physico-chemical analysis of the quality of sachet water and their source point sold in Bwari Area Council Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria

Abstract

Monitoring of the physicochemical water quality parameters plays a vital role in assessing the water environment, and restoring water quality. This study was conducted to assess the physicochemical parameters of four brand of sachet water, and their source points using standard methods of American Public Health Association (APHA). The values for physical parameters which include temperature, colour, turbidity, total dissolved solid, and conductivity were all within the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limit for both the source of water and sachet water. Chemical parameters include pH, chloride ion, electrical conductivity and alkalinity were also all within the WHO limit except total hardness which had a value of 222 mg/L for source of water (brand A) which was above the 200 mg/L limit of the WHO. The analysis of the heavy metals showed that iron and cadmium were not detected in all the samples analyzed, chromium was only found in brand A, with 0.10mg/mL for the source of water and 0.12 mg/L for the sachet water and this was above the WHO maximum contamination level of 0.05 mg/ml. Copper was found in all the samples ranging from 0.19 - 0.27 mg/ml for the source of water while a range of 0.15 - 0.24 mg/ml was recorded for the sachet water. There was no significant difference (p≥0.05) in the values of heavy metals obtained. The values recorded for the source of water in this study was higher than the values for sachet water for most of the physicochemical parameters analyzed which could indicate that there is an effect of the treatment process on the sachet water.