Sanitary quality of packaged water expended in the Maracaibo city (Venezuela)

The consumption of packaged drinking water (bottles, bags and plastic canisters) has increased greatly in the Maracaibo city (Venezuela), due to deterioration of the municipal water distribution system. However, the information on sanitary quality of these products and their effect on human health are nonexistent. In this paper the sanitary quality of 20 commercial brands of packaged water expended in the Maracaibo city, with respect to existing national legislation was analyzed. The samples were obtained from shops, supermarkets and street vendors, considering their city distribution and occurrence frequency in commercial establishments. The parameters analyzed were: pH, real color, turbidity, fluoride, total hardness, total dissolved solids (TDS), total and fecal coliform bacteria, according to standardized methods. The packaged water expended in the Maracaibo city represents a risk to consumer health due to breaches of national standards for pH (30%), real color (45%), fluoride (100%), total (60%) and faecal (24%) coliform bacteria. The presentations in canisters of 18.9 L represent the highest risk of consumption, exceeding the permissible limits of total and fecal coliform bacteria in 100 and 91%, respectively. It requires effective vigilance and quality control of packaged water expended in the Maracaibo city by competent authorities, in order to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases.