Level and seasonal variation of quality parameters in livestock water for selected areas of Marsabit County, northern Kenya

摘要

Waterwithrequiredlevelsofphysicalandchemicalqualityparameterisimportantforlivestockproduction.AnunsafelevelofqualityparametershavehoweverreportedinwatersourcesofnorthernKenyaandhasbeenassociatedwithlivestockpoisoning.Thesituationhadledtomassivedeathsoflivestock.Previouseffortstoevaluatethewaterqualityparametershavesincegeneratedvariedopinionswhichcanbeattributedtolacktemporalandspatialconsideration.Weevaluatedphysicalandchemicalqualityparametersoflivestockindryandwetseasonfromdifferenttypesofwatersource.WepurposivelyselectedareaswithreportedcasesofpoorwaterqualityinMarsabitCountyandrandomlysampledwatersourcesforlaboratoryanalysis.IndependentsampleT-testwasusedtoevaluatevariationofparametersfrommaximumacceptablelimitwhileOne-WayAnalysisofVariance(ANOVA)wasusedtoevaluatetheirseasonalvariations.Mostparametersconsideredwerefoundwithintheacceptablelevelsforlivestockuseexceptforconductivity,nitrates,andcopper.Unsafelevelsofconductivitywereobservedduringbothdryandwetseasonsandthatofnitratesobservedonlyduringdryseasoninalltypesofwatersource.ThelevelsofcopperconcentrationwerehighonlyinWellwaterduringwetseason.Highnitrateslevelwasattributedtofaecalwastescollectionintowatersourceswhilegeologicalcharacteristicsofthestudyareasmighthavecontributedtohighlevelofconductivityandcopperinwater.Protectionofwatersourcesandlivestockwateringatreasonabledistancefromthesourcearerecommendedasstrategytoreducehighnitrateslevels.Geologicalstudyoftheareaisalsorecommendedbeforedevelopmentofwatersourcetoavoidareaswithrocks/soilsthatcontainmineralmetalelementssuchascopper.Thisstudyfurtherrecommendsforconsiderationofseasonandtypeofwatersourcesforcomprehensiveevaluationofwaterqualitysituation.nbsp;