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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to verify claims that water supplied by operators of tanker trucks in Cape Coast does not meet quality standards recommended for human consumption, and to investigate the sources of any contamination. Design/methodology/approach - Samples were collected from a water hydrant from which tanker operators draw water from the Ghana Water Company Limited distribution system in Cape Coast and a number of tankers sampled at random. Additional samples were taken from the premises of a patron of the tanker service and a regular customer of the Ghana Water Company Limited. All samples were subjected to physico-chemical and bacteriological analyses and the results compared with the World Health Organization's guidelines for drinking water. Findings - It was found out that water supplied by the tanker operators indeed failed to meet the World Health Organization's guidelines for some quality parameters as alleged by patrons of the service. The tanker-supplied water was found to contain high levels of Escherichia coli, colour, turbidity and total iron. This was found to arise from the management of the water hydrant and the tankers by the Ghana Water Company Limited and the tanker operators respectively. Originality/value - The study provides a basis for the set of actions that must be taken to safeguard public health and consumer confidence in drinking water supply using tankers as an emerging alternative to conventional water supply in urban centres of the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]