Amuah Ebenezer Ebo Yahans, Bekoe Emmanuel Martin Obeng, Kazapoe Raymond Webrah, Dankwa Paul, Nandomah Solomon, Douti Nang Biyogue, Abanyie Samuel Kojo, Okyere Isaac Kwaku
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Department of Environmental Science, Kumasi, Ghana.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Water Research Institute, Tamale, Ghana.
Environ Chall (Amst). 2021 Aug;4:100164. doi: 10.1016/j.envc.2021.100164. Epub 2021 May 30.
The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 has affected several production services including the water production and delivery processes. This study considered sachet water quality during the advent of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic using multivariate statistics and Water Quality Index, Water Pollution Index and, hygienic and sanitation practices of sixty-two (62) sachet water vendors using a panel assessment approach. The findings showed that vendors did not adhere to proper hygienic practices as ninety-four (94%) of them did not have health clearance, ninety (90%) did not frequently wash their receptacles for selling daily, and most of them stored and sold in unhygienic environments. Majority of the producers violated Food and Drugs Authority Regulations. The Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis showed that total iron, Total Heterotrophic Bacteria, , Cl, , and fecal and total coliforms were the controlling elements in the water. All the brands were below threshold limits based on the physical water assessment. However, enteric bacteria were observed in all the brands. Water Quality and Water Pollution Indices (WQI and WPI) described all the sachet water brands (vendors and production sites) as excellent for drinking. The WQI computations for samples from the production and vending sites respectively ranged from 0.12 to 0.36 and 0.27-0.42 whereas WPI presented 0.22-0.31 and 0.23-0.32. Comparatively, samples from vendors had elevated elemental concentrations and loads. This suggests that besides sachet water contamination during production and transportation, vendors significantly impacted the quality of sachet water. Sensitization on proper hygienic practices for sachet water production and vending and routine assessment of the quality of sachet water produced or sold is recommended.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）的出现影响了包括水生产和供应过程在内的多项生产服务。本研究采用多变量统计方法以及水质指数、水污染指数，并通过小组评估方法对62家袋装水供应商的卫生和卫生习惯进行评估，考察了SARS-CoV-2大流行期间袋装水的质量。研究结果表明，供应商未遵守适当的卫生习惯，其中94%没有健康证明，90%不经常清洗日常销售容器，而且大多数人在不卫生的环境中储存和销售。大多数生产商违反了食品药品管理局的规定。经验正交函数分析表明，总铁、总异养菌、氯、粪便和总大肠菌群是水中的控制元素。根据水的物理评估，所有品牌均低于阈值。然而，在所有品牌中均检测到肠道细菌。水质和水污染指数（WQI和WPI）将所有袋装水品牌（供应商和生产地点）描述为饮用极佳。生产和销售地点样品的WQI计算值分别为0.12至0.36和0.27 - 0.42，而WPI分别为0.22 - 0.31和0.23 - 0.32。相比之下，供应商的样品中元素浓度和负荷较高。这表明，除了生产和运输过程中袋装水受到污染外，供应商对袋装水质量也有重大影响。建议对袋装水生产和销售的适当卫生习惯进行宣传，并对生产或销售的袋装水质量进行定期评估。
