Abstract. It is common for bottled water and other assorted drinks to be seen displayed outside stores and in the sun in most parts of Nigeria. The country is mostly hot year-round, and over the course of the year, temperatures can rise to as high as 40 ∘C around March–April in the study area. The leaching effect of chemicals from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottled water was investigated for five commercially available bottled water brands. Temperature, pH, antimony, bisphenol A (BPA),

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... nitrate levels were measured on days 0, 14, and 28 for control samples and samples exposed to direct sunlight, using destructive sampling technique. Antimony was not detected in brands A, B, and E in the baseline measurement at day 0, while brands C and D had low values; after 28 d all the control samples still had antimony levels within the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) standard. Meanwhile, all the samples exposed to sunlight exceeded US EPA standard levels at 14 and 28 d, except brand A which was within limit at 14 d with value of 4.59 µg L−1. All control and exposed samples were below the European Union Drinking Water Directive (EU DWD) total daily intake (TDI) of BPA (0.05 mg per kilogram of body weight)−1 d−1. Values obtained for nitrate showed that all control samples did not exceed the US EPA guideline level for nitrates in drinking water for days 0, 14, and 28, while three of the samples, i.e. brands C, D, and E, exceeded the guideline level at day 28. Exposure of bottled water to sunlight was seen to impair the quality of the water for consumption.