Assessing the Potential for Rainwater Harvesting Use in a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Region in the South of Brazil

Caroline Gabriela Hoss (), Jorge Manuel Rodrigues Tavares, Ailton João Gonçalves Moreira, Paulo Belli Filho and Alexandre Matthiensen
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Caroline Gabriela Hoss: Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Campus Universitário, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Trindade, Florianópolis 88040-970, Brazil
Jorge Manuel Rodrigues Tavares: Department of Technologies and Applied Sciences, School of Agriculture, Polytechnic Institute of Beja, Apartado 6155, 7800-295 Beja, Portugal
Ailton João Gonçalves Moreira: Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Campus Universitário, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Trindade, Florianópolis 88040-970, Brazil
Paulo Belli Filho: Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Campus Universitário, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Trindade, Florianópolis 88040-970, Brazil
Alexandre Matthiensen: Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária—Suínos e Aves, BR 153, Km 110, Concórdia 89715-899, Brazil

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-13

Abstract: Sustainability in intensive animal production is directly linked to water management. The increasing pressure on water resources and the occurrence of increasingly frequent and severe droughts makes it harder to meet the demand for animal husbandry in rural properties and highlights the importance of rational water use and the search for alternative sources of water supply. In the midwest region of Santa Catarina state, south of Brazil, the use of cisterns to store rainwater collected from the roofs of houses that confine animals is an alternative already widely used and encouraged to minimize water scarcity. Studies that deal with the potential for rainwater use in livestock production are still scarce; however, available information provides a concrete basis for further technical and economic feasibility studies. The present study aimed to evaluate, based on local precipitation and available harvesting areas, the potential of the use of rainwater to supply the water demand ( r , %) and the water-saving potential ( R , m 3 /year) in swine and poultry Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Jacutinga river basin and contiguous sub-basin municipalities, a region with great national importance in this activity. As a result, potential r values of 100% to supply water demand in the poultry sector and between 32.7% and 68.3% in the different production stages of the swine sector were obtained. The potential R value in the study area represented 5.2 million m 3 per year. Such results reveal the high potential of rainwater harvesting systems not only for minimizing impacts of drought periods but also as an abundant source of water for supplying the husbandry water demand of rural farms, ensuring water security, and serving as a tool for managing local water resources.

Keywords: concentrated animal feeding operations; water security; rainwater harvesting systems; swine; poultry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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