Quality of Refilled Drinking Water in Surabaya City Folia Medica Indonesiana Vol. 41 No. 1 January – March 2005 QUALITY OF REFILLED DRINKING WATER IN SURABAYA CITY Soedjajadi Keman ABSTRACT Since municipal drinking water is frequently in unsafe condition and the price of mineralized water is getting more expensive, development of refilled drinking water is welcomed among middle to lower income society of Surabaya city. Therefore the objective of this study was to study whether quality of refilled drinking water in Surabaya city meet standard criteria of drinking water quality according to Decree of Health Minister of Republic of Indonesia (Kepmenkes) No. 907/Menkes/SK/VII/2002. This study was designed as a field observational study conducted cross- sectional among refilled drinking water stands (depots) in Surabaya city with descriptive analysis. Data gathering was carried out in the month of July 2004. Sample size was determined purposively by taking 1 refilled drinking water sample from the stand (depot) of each district in Surabaya city. Therefore the sample size was 31 samples of refilled drinking water. Samples were analyzed at Laboratory of Balai Teknik Kesehatan Lingkungan (BTKL) Surabaya for physical quality i.e. turbidity, chemical quality i.e. acidity (pH) and total dissolved solids (TDS), and bacteriological quality i.e. total Coliform bacteria. The results showed that all 31 samples of refilled drinking water met standard criteria of The Kepmenkes for turbidity and total dissolved solids (TDS) parameters. However, 1 (3,23 %) out of 31 samples did not meet standard criteria of The Kepmenkes for acidity level (pH) parameter; and 7 (22,58 %) out of those samples did not meet standard criteria of The Kepmenkes for total Coliform bacteria parameter. It is concluded that refilled drinking water in Surabaya has not met standard criteria of drinking water as stated in The Kepmenkes since 22,58 % of samples are contaminated by Coliform bacteria. It is recommended to consumers to boil refilled drinking water before consumed. Surabaya’s Department of Health has to pay more attention and to increase activity in refilled drinking water monitoring to prevent public from suffering water borne diseases. It is suggested to consumers, to be safe, to boil this water before drinking to avoid health problem. Keywords: Refilled drinking water, quality, Kepmenkes. INTRODUCTION Drinking water can be drinked directly without boiling (Ditjen PPM dan PLP, 1989). Drinking water must meet standard criteria of drinking water i.e. physical, chemical, bacteriological and radioactive quality as stated in Decree of Health Minister of Republic of Indonesia (Kepmenkes R.I.) No. 907/Menkes/SK/VII/2002 on conditions and monitoring of drinking water quality. Mineralized and refilled drinking water are included as drinking water (Alaerts and Santika, 2002). Recently, development of refilled drinking water is welcomed by middle to lower income society of Surabaya city and used as an alternative drinking water supply since municipal water supply in unsafe condition. Refilled drinking water business grows well in Surabaya city due to the price of trade marked mineralized water is getting more expensive. Actually, ______________________ Department of Environmental Health University of Airlangga School of Public Health This research was sponsored by Airlangga University DIK Supplement ProgramYear of 2004. treatment process of refilled drinking water uses the same technology as treatment process of mineralized drinking water. However, the price of refilled drinking water is cheaper compared to trade marked mineralized water due to there is no cost for packaging and distribution. Problem raised at this moment is that quality of refilled drinking water is below standard since it does not have any National Standard Certificate and Trademark Register Number. Refilled drinking water vendors do not pay enough attention on sanitation and do not care on license from related authorized institution such as Ministry of Industry and Trade for their legal stands operation. Generally, the vendors have only a letter of recommendation from Local Department of Health at the beginning stands are opened and operated without production and trading licenses. Suprihatin (2003) stated that 60 % out of 120 drinking water samples of refilled drinking water stands in big cities of Indonesia (Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi, Bogor, Cikampek, Medan, Denpasar, Yogyakarta, Semarang and Surabaya) analyzed showed that at least one parameter did not meet standard criteria of The Kepmenkes. Furthermore, 34 % out of those samples 29