Water quality in equine production in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

Abstract

One of the key factors for equine production is water, its availability in sufficient quantity and adequate quality. Studies about water quality in equine production worldwide are limited and even more limited in Argentina (South America). However, the amount of horses in Argentina declared by National Service of Agri-Food Health and Quality is of 2.5 million heads approximately, being most of them in Buenos Aires Province. The aim is to characterize the water quality in equine production farms in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Groundwater samples were taken from 26 equine production farms where physicochemical parameters (pH, conductivity, total hardness, chlorides, nitrates and total dissolved solids), water wells' depth and the distance from the farms to the city of Buenos Aires were registered. The values of physicochemical parameters were correlated with the distance to the city of Buenos Aires to assess the influence of the alterations in groundwater quality resulting from pollution in the city of Buenos Aires and its periphery and the depth of the wells using the Spearman correlation (p < 0.05). The results of the work show that there is an association between farms' water quality and the distance to the city of Buenos Aires. The depth presents significant positive correlation with the conductivity, chloride and total dissolved solids and negative correlation with nitrates. This suggests that sources of groundwater near to the city of Buenos Aires present a lower water quality. In conclusion, the water equine production farms in Buenos Aires Province were negatively related to the distance from Buenos Aires city. Equine farms closest to the city (< 80 km) may present different problems to be considered: the excessive salinity and the presence of nitrates from anthropic origin.

Life Cycle Assessment of Water in Sport Equine Production in Argentina: A Case Study

“…These figures show that farm water is of relatively good quality although nitrates level is over guideline levels proposed by Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines (CEME) (<1 mg/L) and United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (<1 mg/L) [30,31]. Farm water quality is appropriate with regard to other horse farms in the region and is consistent with the results found by Vaccaro et al [20].…”

“…Based on previous studies [19,20] a sport horses farm in the Province of Buenos Aires was selected as study case. This farm is recognized in the equestrian sector for the performance of both horses and riders.…”

A Simplified Equation for Calculating the Water Quality Index (WQI), Kalu River, Sri Lanka

“…Mining, livestock farming, production, and disposal of waste (industrial, municipal, and agricultural) are considered leading causes of anthropogenic activities in the river that affect water quality in general [5][6][7]. Due to the land use changes, it is also possible to register heavy metal pollution in the water bodies [8].…”

Environmental Effects of Sport Horse Production Farms in Argentina

“…The environmental effects of livestock productions have been studied worldwide in recent decades [1][2][3][4]. However, these are focused on cattle [5][6][7] and there are very few studies on horses and more specifically on sport horses [8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…Argentina is one of the countries that exports animals for equestrian sports. In the last 5 years, our team has increased the study of different factors associated with the environmental effects of the production of sport horses; analyzing the quality of drinking water, determining the presence of trace has increased the study of different factors associated with the environmental effects of the production of sport horses; analyzing the quality of drinking water, determining the presence of trace elements in food, excreta and beds of the boxes as well as quantifying the water used for consumption, cleaning and cleaning of the boxes [10][11][12]. Considering these previous works, and performing a comprehensive analysis, this paper analyzes the environmental effects of sport horse production farms in Argentina and proposes actions to minimize the environmental effects of this type of production.…”