Organic Compound Composition in Sachet and Bottled Water Potable Produced in Southwest Ado Ekiti, Nigeria

Abstract

Organic pollutants are pollutants that are organic in nature, basically containing carbon covalently bonded with other elements. They are known to be toxic or carcinogenic in nature. Their presence in water in large quantity causes considerable and widespread concern. Ten water samples -sachets and bottles, were bought from different potable water producing plants in Ado-Ekiti environs. By using a separatory funnel with liquid-liquid extraction system of 50mL:50mL n-Hexane: Dichloromethane,  organic contaminants were extracted from the water samples. These samples were analyzed using ultra violet-visible spectrophotometry, which determined that the wavelength of maximum absorption (λ_max) of the organic compounds present in all the water samples was 222 nm. These organic compounds were identified using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The composite water sample obtained from the sachet water revealed sixteen (16) organic compounds, while ten (10) were found in the bottled water composite sample. The common organic compounds found in both the sachet and bottled waters are Neophytadiene, Hexadecanoic acid, Eicosadiene, Cyclotrisiloxane, and Tetrasiloxane. Other organic compounds found only in the composite bottled water samples are: Dodecanoic acid, Octadecadienoic acid, Octadecenoic, Methyl stearate, Benzisothiazol-3-amine, and Arsenous acid. The presence of Arsenous acid is quite worrisome, especially when found in bottled water that most elites in the society drinks. In the composite sachet water sample, other organic compounds found include Copaene, Cubebene, Caryophyllene, Humulene, Naphthalene, Caryophyllene oxide, Tetradecyne, Caffeine, Methyl Hexadecenoic acid, Hexadec-9-enoate, p-Camhorene, Octadecatrienenoic acid, Supraene, and HexamethylCyclotrisiloxane. In general, most of these organic compounds have plant origin but their presence in potable water is undesirable and therefore regarded as contaminants and harmful. The water producing plants need to incorporate effective organic purification systems to remove these organic compounds, which are harmful contaminants from the drinking waters.