E.Coli Found in Household Storage, Not Supply

This afternoon, three key national institutions moved quickly to clarify a wave of public concern stemming from the recently released MICS7 survey, making it clear from the outset that the E. coli findings relate primarily to how water is stored in contaminated household containers, not to the quality of water produced or supplied through Belize’s formal distribution systems.  In a joint press conference featuring the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB), the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW), and Belize Water Services (BWS), officials underscored that the three agencies’ water testing methods do not contradict each other. Instead, they explained that each agency samples water at different points along the chain, from the source to the distribution network, and finally inside individual homes. When combined, these datasets provide the most complete national profile of water-quality risks that Belize has ever had.  The media briefing was convened in response to public alarm following the release of the MICS7 findings earlier this week. Some Belizeans questioned whether the nation’s drinking water contains E. coli. Today, the agencies made it plain: MICS7 does not test water coming out of BWS’s system; it tests the water at the point of consumption inside households, after storage, handling, and transport.  SIB Director General Diana Castillo gave a detailed breakdown of the survey’s methodology. She emphasized that the MICS7 testing protocol, developed by UNICEF and the World Health Organization and used in more than 50 countries, focuses on household-level exposure.

“The water testing results showed that at a national level, 33.7 of the population was at some kind of risk of contamination to their drinking water based on samples collected at the point of consumption, collected from a drinking receptacle. We acknowledge that this finding has understandably raised some public concern and we want to address directly what this data shows. At the source level, where households first access their drinking water, such as the top, dispenser, or water tank. Results showed that there was no detectable risk of contamination to the drinking water of 70.2% of the population. 14% fell within the moderate risk range, while 9.8% were at high risk and 5.9% were at very high risk. With respect to drinking water at the household level, collected from a drinking receptacle, 66.3% were not at risk, while 15.3% were in the moderate risk range, 10.6% at high risk, and 7.8% at very high risk. The difference between contamination at the source and at the household level is a key finding of the MICS, suggesting that contamination can be introduced between the point where water enters the home and the point of consumption.”

Director Castillo explained that SIB field staff underwent intensive, six-day training delivered by a regional water-quality expert, ensuring the sampling and testing were done to the international standards set for MICS surveys worldwide.  Throughout the briefing, SIB, BWS, and MOHW representatives walked step-by-step through their respective procedures. 

“We get two different samples of water one at the household, one that is gotten from the cup or glass from the respondent, and one from the source, which isn’t necessarily any company or establishment. So the source would be, if they say, I drink from the rainwater from my tank, that’s the source that we would have gotten and it would be poured directly to a bag that is sanitized. And the first one would be gotten from the household from the cup into the Whirl Pak so at any point it could be contaminated. If they didn’t filter their tank properly, their rainwater tank properly, or if it’s from the tap water it’s not necessarily sanitized by the measure, that’s not what we’re measuring. What we’re measuring was the handling and the consumption point of water intake.”

“We use disposable gloves as our proper handling equipment. We disinfective faucet, we flush and we let it flow for two to five minutes. This is the procedure that I’m referring to and then we collect the samples in a sterile plastic bottle. Then we place that in a cooler with ice packs to maintain temperature and then that is shipped to the lab for immediate testing. On the analytical side of it, we ensure that the environment in which we are going to do the testing is very sterile as well. And then we do use similar methods, membrane filtration, and then we put that membrane filter in a Petri dish and invert that and then we incubate that in an incubator at 35 is for a minimum of 24 hours and then use a microscope to count the number of bacteria.”

BWS officials were clear that the MICS7 approach was never designed to make conclusions about national system quality or about the safety of water produced by BWS. They noted that the sampling procedures used in the survey do not follow the internationally recognized standards required for formal water-utility assessments.  Hugo Rancharan of BWS’ Water and Wastewater Management stressed that none of the findings cited in the MICS7 report originated from BWS’s treatment or distribution systems, and the company reaffirmed that it continues to meet global benchmarks through ongoing participation in international proficiency assessments.

“I would like to ensure or mention that we follow minimum WHO standard but we aim for AWWA standards which are more stricter than WHO standards. Now one more clarification is that at no point of time the survey was done at BWS plant as source. It was done at household level and at their source means maybe they have the tank or maybe their tap or their receptacle or their water cooler for example. So it has nothing to do with BWS and it was more highlighting about hygiene practices at household level where we need to improve and the intention is clear to public awareness purpose or educate people to be better to improve their kids’ lives and nothing to do with BWS. Now the last thing with respect to chlorine, which we do chlorine sampling every day at different household level, is an indirect reason to show you that there no bacteria in the water as long as there is a residual chlorine in the water. So this everything being done daily, weekly and monthly to ensure the water we supply, it’s a potable water and it’s safe water.”

The agencies described the MICS7 findings not as a system-wide alarm, but as an opportunity to strengthen public education on household storage practices and sanitation