SACHET WATER, A THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH (PAGE 29)

ALTHOUGH the proliferation of sachet water in the Tamale metropolis can be said to be an improved development over the old practice of water being sold to people in cups that were shared by many people, with its concomitant health hazards, sachet water also has its own problems.
Apart from the unhealthy sight of used plastic at every nook and cranny of the metropolis, it has now become clear that water bagged by some producers is not as ‘‘pure’’ as they want the public to believe.
It is for this reason that most residents have expressed grave concern over the operations of some sachet water producers in the area.
An Institute of Professional Studies (IPS), student, Shei J.B. Fuseini, cautioned the public ‘‘to be very careful about the type of sachet water they consume, for it is very clear that most of the producers operate under unhygienic conditions’’.
Iddrisu Alhassan, a student of the Tamale Senior High School, claimed that he was lucky to have checked the sachet water he bought recently in town.
‘‘I had to throw it away after detecting some dead insects in the water,’’ he said.
Some of his colleagues also alleged that some sachet water had unpleasant smell.
Others stressed the need for the authorities, such as the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, to pass bye-laws that would compel sachet water producers to place litter bins at vantage points for patrons to dispose of the waste product.
They said the responsibility of picking up used plastic should also rest on the shoulders of the producers.
In a recent interview with the Zonal Officer of the Food and Drugs Board for the Northern Region, Mr Solomon Agampim, in Tamale, he also advised consumers to always endeavour to check the quality of products before purchasing them.
He reminded the people that the consumption of unwholesome goods and food items was dangerous to one’s health and, therefore, cautioned them to be wary of such items in the system.
Mr Agampim quoted portions of the FDB law of 1992 that clearly states that ‘‘any person who sells or offers for sale any food that consists in whole or part of any filthy, putrid, rotten, decomposed or diseased substance’’ contravened the law and could, therefore, face sanctions.