34.7 C
Sierra Leone
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Crackdown on Sub-Standard Packaged Water

HomeAYV NewsCrackdown on Sub-Standard Packaged Water

Crackdown on Sub-Standard Packaged Water

Date:

Related stories

Parliament ratifies Defence Agreements

The Parliament of Sierra Leone has debated and ratified...

Bishop Tamba Charles puzzled by low turnout for Holy Week activities

Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of the Catholic Archdiocese of Freetown...

Pujehun District Entertainment Association Awards: Hon. Zombo: ‘Most Influential, Developmental Persons

The Pujehun District Entertainment Association, (PuDEA) has awarded Hon....

EVP hosts successful 2nd Championship Debate Competition in Sierra Leone

In celebration of its 14th anniversary, the ECOWAS Volunteer...

APC Party speaks on arrest of Dj Boxx in Guinea

The All People's Congress (APC) Party has issued a...

 

A deficiency in the country’s ability to provide portable water for its population has opened a business opportunity for the private sector. Over the last two decades since the end of the 1991-2002 civil war, the packaged water business has proliferated.

There are over 100 such water brands sold across the country, mostly in the capital, Freetown. Very few of them have the right facilities to produce quality products, raising issues of health concern.

The recent MICS 2017 conducted by Statistics Sierra Leone revealed that all water sources, both household and at source, were found to contain 95 percent E.coli contamination. This means that they have either human or animal feces. E.coli [Escherichia coli] is a bacteria that normally lives in the intestines of healthy people and animals.

Most varieties of the micro-organism are harmless or cause relatively brief diarrhea but a few particularly nasty strains can cause severe abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting.

Doris Bah, Program Manager at the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) department in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), attributed this situation to the lack of appropriate treatment facilities by most producers. 

She said their findings revealed that some producers use only ordinary sponge to filter the water. “The Ministry is going to be very rigid this time round,” said Ms. Bah.

Previous findings have also revealed that some packaged water producers packaged the water directly from water wells without treatment. And the ink used by some of them to label their products also affects water quality and smell, said Mohamed Kargbo, Head of Water at the Electricity and Water Regulatory Commission. 

He added that from now on the Commission will shut down any water packaging company which doesn’t meet the set standard.

Latest stories

Subscribe

- Never miss a story with notifications

- Gain full access to our premium content

- Browse free from up to 5 devices at once