Essay On Drinking Water

Drinking Water

Water is the basis of all life - an ecological resource for the flora and fauna of our earth and a fundamental necessity for human life. WHO and different regulatory agencies consider that “drinking-water” should be “suitable for human consumption and for all usual domestic purposes including personal hygiene” Drinking-water should therefore be suitable for consumption, washing/showering and domestic food preparation. In human health terms, exposure to water and its constituents can occur through ingestion, contact and aerosol inhalation. The WHO estimates that 80% of all disease is in some way connected with contaminated water {27}. Water has become an important factor in the quality of life and development in most countries.

The common sources of contamination of bottled water are the source of bottled water, equipment, bottles and caps, exposure to air, contact with human during the bottling process {25}. Although the microbial number in processed water is often initially low, it can increases rapidly due to long storage {20}. This rapid growth of bacteria after the water is bottled may be due to oxygenation of the water during processing, the increase in surface area provide by the bottle, the increase in the temperature and the amount of nutrients arising from the bottle {22,25}. {34} reported that some bacteria can multiply on polyvinyl chloride of ultra-marine blue dye in the bottle plastic material. When water is heavily contaminated, it gives off a bad odor and may cause gastrointestinal upset. It is known that PVC bottles used, in association with certain bacteria such as Acinetobacter spp and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, frequently have an off-odor, due to the phenomena of elevated lipolytic activity due to their cell hydrophobicity and adhesivity to the PVC. These bacteria attack the sodium polysulfide included in the ultramarine blue dye present in PVC, transforming it to hydrogen sulphide