WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVE DRINKING WATER SOURCES IN URBAN AND SUBURBAN AREAS, SIERRA LEONE, AFRICA

The assessment of water quality for drinking purpose in Sub-Saharan Africa has been widely done using numerous criteria that usually vary from one country to another. In Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Water Resources has established a list of 34 criteria including biological (bacteria and pathogens), chemical and physicochemical properties that are used to assess the suitability of water for human consumption based on WHO recommendations. However, following the recent Ebola outbreak and the need to prevent the spreading of water-borne diseases associated with poor sanitation, both government and humanitarian aid efforts have focused their attention addressing the bacteriological component (Lapworth et al., 2015). As major concerns have been raised regarding groundwater chemistry in particular (elevated iron in the Freetown metropolitan area; naturally-occurring arsenic around mines in the Northeast), it is becoming clear that a more comprehensive picture of the quality of drinking water sources in the country should take into consideration other variables besides the biology. Ten biological, chemical and physicochemical criteria were used to assess the quality of drinking water collected from 142 alternative sources including packet water (73), communal water tank (36), groundwater samples (9), municipal grill (8), and retail bottled water (3). Although packet water is the most widespread and economically viable among all the other drinking water alternatives, it raises the biggest concern for public health among the 5 alternatives based on both biological and chemical criteria: 23% of samples falling above the WHO recommendations for coliform content; 15% above the recommended limit for iron content; maximum E-coli, Total Coliform and nitrate levels. To address the threat to human health presented by packet water, it is suggested a thorough assessment of its content (quality control) and a reinforcement of regulations and incentives to reduce their marketability.