Objective To understand the safety issues of drinking water provided by automatic water dispenser (AWD)and provide evidences to improve the current supervision system on drinking water vending machines.
Methods Data of 82 AWDs on license of drinking water-related product retail by Ministry of Health (MOH), characteristics of retail company, employee management, AWD location, routine maintenance and license disclosure were collected. About 36 of 82 AWDs were randomly selected for drinking water safety tests, including colority, turbidity, smell and taste, pH, lead, oxygen consumption, nitrite nitrogen, conductivity, total number of bacteria colonies, total coliform bacteria, heat-resistant coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli.
Results No maintenance personnel provided medical record for safety screening purpose among 82 AWDs. About 70.7% of AWDs disclosed MOH licenses and 75.6% presented the regular maintenance log (cleaning and filter change). Only 36.6% of AWDs showed information reminding customers to clean water containers. The information disclosure rates were varied by company size (P<0.01). Among 36 AWDs tested, colority, turbidity, smell and taste, pH, lead, nitrite nitrogen, total coliform bacteria, heat-resistant coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli all met the corresponding national drinking water limits. But for the national limits of oxygen consumption, electrical conductivity and bacteria colony count, the qualified sample rates were 94.4%, 36.1% and 72.2% respectively, which could be varied by the company size (P < 0.01).
Conclusion Increasing market entry standards, improving vending retails management and related information disclosure, as well as regular drinking water safety inspection should secure the safety of drinking water vended by AWDs.
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