Microbiological quality of bottled drinking water in the UAE and the effect of storage at different temperatures

The microbiological quality of bottled water from different sources in the United Arab Emirates was studied. The study was done on 80 commercial bottl ed water samples from 4 different manufacturing companies. The results show ed that 75% of the 20-L bottles were contaminated by 10 different species o f bacteria, whereas 10 to 40% of the 1.5-L, bottles were contaminated by 2- 4 types of micro-organisms. Heterotrophic bacteria and a few types of human -associated bacteria were isolated. The most frequent organism found in all types of water was Acinetobacter lwoffii with several genospecies. Storage of water at 4 degrees C preserved the water without microbial multiplicati on, whereas at 25-37 degrees C, most microbes multiplied, and at 42 degrees C, most contaminants were destroyed. The source of these micro-organisms a nd their untoward effects on the drinking water were not determined. (C) 19 99 Elsevier Science Ltd.