Assessment of effluent discharges into waterways from on-farm cattle breeding operations in Mubi, Adamawa State

Abstract

The emerging Cattle breeding enterprises in Mubi, Adamawa State, Nigeria, and the unrestricted effluents discharged from the operations into water bodies are observed to be potential health risks to the residents. The runoff from the operations possesses the intrinsic mobility to contaminate the nearby surface waters and groundwater resources through surface infiltration. In this study, the suitability of the water samples from the streams and hand-dug wells across the cattle breeding farms in Mubi was evaluated for various applications using the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI). The results of the CCME WQI show the samples collected from the Jerre, and Gipalma streams and the wells at Gipalma across the nine cattle breeding farms are of poor/marginal ratings which proves that the samples could be unsuitable for irrigation, fisheries, livestock, and human consumption relative to the acceptable standards prescribed by the regulatory bodies. The WQI shows the water quality is almost and frequently threatened/impaired; the conditions are often (marginally, 45-67) or usually (Poor, <45) depart from the acceptable or desirable levels. Among the twenty (20) parameters analysed, the total coliform count was observed to fail the objectives widely. The total coliform detected at the Jere streams ranges from 1.27 x 10⁶ to 1.7 x 10⁶ Cfu/100 mL. The values recorded at Gipalma streams range from 1.40 x 10⁶ to 1.62 x 10⁶ Cfu/100 mL and that of the wells in the same locations ranges from 1.06 x 10⁶ to 1.08 x 10⁶ Cfu/100 mL.