Abstrait

The Health-Related Microbiological Quality of Bottled Drinking Water Sold in Gondia District of Maharashtra, India

Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., well water, distilled water, mineral water, or spring water) packaged in plastic or glass water bottles. Now a day there is an increased demand and consumption of packaged drinking water hence there has been a growing concern about the quality of this product. The safety of water depends on various aspects from its production to final consumption in such a way so that either any microbial contamination can be prevented or it will be reduced to levels not harmful to health. The present study deals with the bacteriological quality of packaged drinking water bottles sold in Gondia, Maharashtra to know microbiological quality of locally produced packaged drinking water brands. Out of 50 bottled waters were collected from Gondia City, 28 (56.0%) bottled water were contaminated with the pathogenic microorganisms, whereas 22 bottled water (44.0%) did not show any pathogenic microorganisms. Surveillance of bottled water manufacturing industries in the settings on a regular basis needs to be done by regulatory agencies which will ensure safe and wholesome bottled water for public usage and health authorities should do intensify efforts in the routine monitoring of activities in the purified bottled water industry in order to supply safe and healthy water to the public. Hence there is a need for strict and routine monitoring of the packaged drinking water with the view of raising their standards which may pose higher risk of microbial exposure.