Contamination issues in sachet and bottled water in Nigeria: a mini-review

Due to the unavailability of pipe-borne water in Nigeria, the idea of packaged drinking water in plastic bottles and sachets is now a common phenomenon in the country by private sector participation. The review aimed to evaluate and discuss the contamination issues on commercially available water in Nigeria. The review was conducted to synthesise the current body of knowledge in the research area to help present a proper perspective of the status quo. The result has shown that in most locations in the country, heavy metal pollution was still observable especially in sachet and bottled water. The result has shown that contamination by microbes, such as Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, was rampant. Furthermore, the microbial contamination issues were more widespread than for heavy metals. This was an indictment of the regulatory bodies that have not fully enforced stricter measures to ensure good quality of water is available to the Nigerian populace. It is recommended that integrated water management systems be set up in most urban and suburban locations to ensure the availability of pipe-borne water. Considering the significance of the current issue to the achievement of the sustainable development goals, efforts must be made to implement technological strategies for the separation and/or degradation of pollutants from commercial water during production.