Abstract

This study was initiated due to recent complaints of game farmers in the Musina area, Limpopo Province, South Africa regarding suspicious borehole water quality. Water samples obtained from 36 drinking troughs supplied from boreholes on game ranches in the Musina area, were analysed using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) technique for their fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br) and iodine (I) concentrations. Concentrations of Br in all the samples, those of I in 83% of the samples, F in 25% of the samples, and that of Cl in one sample exceeded recommended acceptable limits. It was found that water of seven of the sampling sites is unfit for animal use.  Unacceptable high concentrations of halogen ions in the Musina area were attributed to their occurrences in mineral constituents of the country rocks, and probably also to anthropogenic activities with a strong possibility of uptake of halogen ions by the vegetation of the area. The ions could possibly leach into groundwater and become incorporated into the chemical constituents of drinking water used for game farming. Low rainfall and high evaporation in the area also contribute to an increasing dependency of game on borehole water and concentrations of these halogen ions in drinking troughs supplied by borehole water. Values above acceptable limits of these halogen ions tend to pose as a possible health hazard to animals (and humans) on game ranches in the area.

Key words: Animal health hazard, borehole water, bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine.