Water Quality

Question 1

How does temperature affect water consumption?

Answer 1

extremely cold or hot is not palatable

cold water will also lower feed consumption

Question 2

What other factors change the palatability of water?

Answer 2

decrease:

• extreme pH, salinity, odour, taste
• sulphate for most species

increase:
- swine and high sulphate water

Question 3

What factors can water be test for?

Answer 3

microbiology
hardness
salinity
ions
agents

Question 4

What is involved in the microbiology testing of water?

Answer 4

bacterial counts

specifically e.coli counts

Question 5

What species is e.coli often isolated from? is this a problem?

Answer 5

cattle

has little impact (human problem)

Question 6

What elements contribute to water hardness?

Answer 6

Ca, Mg, Calcium carbonate

the more mg/L the harder the water

Question 7

Is water hardness used to assess toxicity?

Answer 7

nope

Question 8

What is salinity and does it assess water quality?

Answer 8

total dissolved solids after carbonates are converted to oxides and halogens are converted to chloride

“measure of inorganic substances”
- typically Ca, Mg, Na, HCO3, Cl, SO4 ions are involved

sometimes conductivity is measured
- indirectly reflecting ion concentrations

Question 9

What water has the highest salinity vs lowest?

Answer 9

fresh < brackish < salt < brine

Question 10

Which species are the most susceptible to salinity?

Answer 10

poultry followed by dairy cattle

most species can tolerate 4-5,000 mg/L

Question 11

What does high TDS cause in animals?

Answer 11

diarrhea, poor growth
reduced productivity
unfit during periods of heat and stress

Question 12

What are the limitations with detecting hardness or salinity?

Answer 12

doesn’t get to underlying problem

Question 13

What are some examples of a more in depth water analysis ?

Answer 13

metals, anions, nitrates, pesticides, ammonia

Question 14

What indicates hydrogen sulfide decomposition?

Answer 14

rotten egg smell

Question 15

What indicates high iron in the water?

Answer 15

bitter taste

Question 16

What indicates insecticide toxicity in water?

Answer 16

dead invertebrates

Question 17

What are some things to note about the animal when dealing with elevated sulphate in the water? acutely and chronically?

Answer 17

diarrhea

extended exposure will interact with metals (Se, Cu) and produce deficiencies and clinical disease

moderate exposure adaptive response likely

Question 18

What can cause insecticide/herbicide contamination of water?

Answer 18

run off, spray drift, rain fall, spills, poor disposal, direct application

Question 19

Why is insecticide/herbicide analysis not routine? what is the typical approach?

Answer 19

expensive and difficult

clinical exam and biochemical assessment followed by tissue sample to assess single agent

good clinical exam, history, post mortem is better than broad analytical eval (sometimes not possible if can see cattle)

Question 20

What is the unit conversion for ppm -> % /mg?

Answer 20

1ppm = 0.0001%
1% = 10,000ppm
1ppm = 1mg/kg = 1ug/g

will be a question on what is the toxic amount, given dose and concentration