Tap versus Bottled Water in Kampala, Uganda: Analyses of Consumers' Perception alongside Bacteriological and Physicochemical Quality

In Uganda, tap water is always ensured to be potable. However, people are not sure whether tap water is generally safe for drinking without being boiled. Conversely, bottled water consumption is on the increase in Uganda. The main problem lies in the cost of energy for boiling tap water or purchasing bottled water. This study analyzed results of laboratory tests and consumers' perception for comparison of tap and bottled water in Nakawa division, Kampala. Tap water was sampled at four representative locations. At least 16 different brands of bottled water were considered. The top four most consumer-preferred bottled water brands were selected for further analysis. In our study, 28.8%, 6.06%, and 13.64% of the 142 respondents indicated that bottled water had taste, color, and smell, respectively. However, 27.5%, 25.4%, and 34.5% of the respondents agreed that tap water had taste, color, and smell, respectively. Both tap and bottled water met the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for pH, total dissolved solids, chloride, copper, sodium, sulfate, and nitrate. However, a tap water sample was found to contain Coliform bacteria. In this line, affected communities need to thoroughly boil the raw tap water to kill the pathogens. All tap water samples yielded iron concentrations above the WHO recommended limit. Student's t-tests showed that tap and bottled water samples were significantly (p<0.05) different with respect to total dissolved solids, pH, chloride, calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, sulfate, and nitrate. We emphasize the need for routine maintenance of the water distribution system to check for leakages which can be potential source of contaminations.