Investigation on the causes of purified bottled drinking water turning green before the expiry date
Abstract
The main objective of this study was to investigate the causes of bottled purified water turning green before its expiry date at Ark industries. Ten Ark purified drinking water bottles treated with ozone as disinfection before bottling were obtained randomly from Bwaise and Kawempe. Five of these were stored at room temperature and the other five exposed to sunlight. All these were analyzed for odor, coliforms, E.coli, Standard Plate Count and fungi count. Coliforms were analyzed using the presumptive test for coliforms using MacConkey’s broth. The results showed that there were no coliforms in both sets that were sampled. Standard Plate Count was done using the dilution plate method, and results showed that water bottles kept in the sun had a higher bacteria load compared to those that were maintained at room temperature, also the fungi counts were higher in the water bottles kept in the sun. The results showed that the total bacterial counts was 70 to 475cfu/ml, and fungi counts was 10 to 50cfu/ml. From the results it is recommended that the bottled purified drinking water should not be kept in the sunlight as this brings about unpleasant odor in the water, resulting from pathogenic bacteria which can affect the immunocompromised. Also, the loosely tightened bottles permitairentry into the water and hence the bacteria is able to grow in the conditions available.