Hai,

Nowadays the ground water get polluted with anthropological activities, many industries release their waste water directly into the land or rivers without pretreating it, the toxic substances such as bromate, ammonia, and some other heavy metals will accumulated and mixed with the ground water, Landfills also contaminate groundwater when rain water leaks into aquifers below the landfill, The percolating water leaches toxic chemicals from batteries, broken fluorescent bulbs, electronic equipment, discarded household chemicals, and paints and solvents. Although landfills now prohibit toxic waste, and they are carefully regulated to prevent leakage to groundwater, many older sites are unlined and leak. and another important ground water contamination is pesticides and herbicides, the extensive use of these chemicals may leads to bioaccumulation. Beside this several other microbial contamination's also responsible for your livestocks diseases which includes E. coli, Burkholderia pseudomallei, Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia lamblia, Salmonella, Novovirus and other viruses and some other Parasitic worms Parasitic worms. for avoiding these incidents better you can analyze your water in both chemical and microbiological point of view.

The naturally found soil profile have good ability to retain the chemically as well as microbial contamination. Compact soil profile and greater 40 feet water level has greater ability to prevent most of the bacterial as well chemical contamination that leach down to groundwater while the non concreteness and swallow soil profile (anthropological disturbance) may lead to groundwater contamination. Most of the research paper reviewed that the bacterial contamination as well as chemically contamination that are leached to groundwater are retained by soil with distance 100 meter.

It is important to first analyze your bore hole water to establish the contaminants - heavy metals, pesticides/herbicide residues, microbial contamination etc. This will help you get a clue into the link between the water and your cows. All the best

Yes, it is a known fact that bore water creates health hazards. It ha sto be first analyzed, treated, if required and then used, as, content of salts is very high. Similarly, depending on the location, microbial flora may also be high.

In India case study of west Bengal arsenic Contamination is the good example of Ground water created problems ....

the answer is YES whether you meant "Boar" or "bore" hole water. The extent of health hazard depend on where you are as explained by Dr Anandharaj

there can be issues as the ground water is not exposed to sunlight and atmosphere. these interactions are important in ways still unknown to the western science. Some complicated processes happen when thewater is exposed to sunlight and air.........this needs scientific validation.

for cattle dying of borewater, it might be due to heavymetal pollution like arsenic mostly.....

It depends to:

1- deep of well

3-well structure

2- vulnerability of aquifer

3- anthropological activities

It is definitely hazardous. We are worried not only about the heavy metals but also about contamination by sewerage water.

If it's contagious it may be microbial presence in the water. Or if it is due to consumption of the water, it could be due to presence of toxic substance in the water being consumed by the livestock. E.g. Rat droppings are known to cause fatal illness in humans.

Dear Dr. Ramachandra Mohan,

Yes and No. The quality (chemical, biological and radioactive characteristics) is the most important factor for using or not-using of water and not the source of water; and it is very difficult to comment about this subject without a complete water analysis.

The shallow ground water (from dug wells) is more vulnerable to contamination than the deeper one / Bore wells. If the water bearing zone (Aquifer) in deep bore well is separated by a impermeable (clay) layer then the water may not be contaminated by anthropological activities from surface until it is directly contaminated. However, deep Bore well can be contaminated by geogenic pollutants such as Fluoride, Arsenic, Radioisotopes etc.

Borehole water is very vulnerable to contamination if it not deep enough, as result of capillarity seepage. This depends on the on the chemistry of the soil and the environment.If the borehole is in dug in an area which is possibly receiving industrial fall out like lead dusts, this can be washed down into the soil after heavy down pour of rainfall.The borehole is thereby polluted.

Dear M Ramchandra Mohan; Bore water can create health hazards only when the aquifer from which the water is being pumped is directly contaminated with hazardous pollutant or due to lithology/geogenic causes. In general surface water are more dangerous to create health hazards to animals because most of the hazardous pollutants can mix in surface water through dumping of waste and mixing of industrial and urban wastes in surface waters and create health hazard of animals and human beings.

There are many cases where drilling a well facilitates the migration of contaminants from the shallow portion of the geological section to the deeper aquifer. The drilling process is a destructive technique. In confined or semi-confined aquifers, the perforation of the aquitard increases the aquifer vulnerability to contamination by infiltration process. However, a proper well construction reduces this risk significantly.