ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF SACHET WATER CONSUMED IN BENUE STATE (A CASE STUDY OF OJU METROPOLIS)

Absract Consumption of sachet water and the resultant effect on human health have prompted severalstudies. Quality assessment of various sachet water brands marketed in Oju Metropolis of BenueState was carried out in this study. Five sachet water brands (SWB) were selected and evaluatedwith   the   paqualab   kit   for  two  weeks   to   investigate   the   physico-chemical,   microbiologicalcontaminants and to compare the quality parameters with  public water source (pipe borne water)and   the   acceptable   standards.   The   physical   parameters   showed   no   significant   difference   asobserved by the high value of R2. The microbial test revealed bacterial pollution in all the sachetwater   brands.   The   highest   average   total   coliform   of   106cfu/100ml   and   faecal   coliform53cfu/100ml was recorded in pipe borne water. These values were higher than all the acceptableNigerian standards and the WHO. SWB2  has the highest level of contaminants among all thesachet water brands. It is recommended that adequate and enough treatments be done to reducethe coliform count to zero before consumption