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  Discussion on Respiratory Concerns Dust/Diesel fumes
Author Message
Member:
estrella

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 - 12:11 pm:

Hello, I have a concern and wanted to get an opinion on whether I should be worried. I live in a rural area, my horses are about 15 feet from the street. It is typically very quiet. Our city is building a New Firestation. In order to do this they are moving 90,000 cubic ft of dirt from the mountain to the new location. I am seeing about 3-4 trucks pass our house every minute. Then followed by street sweepers. There is dust coming off the trucks as they pass, then there are the diesel fumes. This is planned to continue 2 to 6 months. Should I be concerned? Thanks!!!
Member:
mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 - 12:35 pm:

Where we live it is a law that construction sites have to use water trucks to keep the dust down. However, we do live in a mixed use area with lots of agriculture, and we live in the high desert so we get lots of wind. In the early spring when fields have first been plowed, if the wind comes up and you are down wind from a field, or if you live near a dry lake, the dust can be really bad. Of course, this is occassional, but fairly frequent in certain areas. While not ideal, I've never known anyone to have any problems from it. If you had a horse with severe allergies or heaves, though it might be a different story. If it gets so bad that you start having problems when you are outside, then I would think it would be bad for the horses also. If I complained to the city I'd stress my own health and that of any neighbors, especially if there are children. You might get more action that way.

Are you in an area where there is no wind and the fumes and dust just hang around? Ugh! I wouldn't like the fumes and would worry more about them then the dust. I hope you have tight windows and doors in your house to keep out the dirt! What a mess.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 8:33 am:

Hello estrella,
When you say your horses are about 15 feet I presume you are talking about a fence line? How far away can the horses get? In general I too think this is not likely to be a cause for concern but without actually seeing the ruckus I cannot be sure. If you are finding dust on your horses, eye irritation, or coughing you might consider erecting a temporary fence line to increase their distance from the mess until it passes.
DrO
Member:
estrella

Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 7:03 pm:

Thank you Sara! It sure is crazy up here right now. Normally it's very, very quiet here. We are close to the mountain and we do get winds later in the after noon. So I contacted the city in a nice E-mail. Wow, they responded right away and the City Fire Chief even called me. Now the trucks creep past our house water trucks on the move, up and down the street. On the upside my horses will be "truck broke", always a good thing. Our city has always been very horse friendly. But one always worries that it will change, I guess not!
Member:
estrella

Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 7:35 pm:

Thank you Dr0. I will will have to take a picture, it's pretty crazy. The run my mare is in is closest to the traffic. It runs right along the road. The runs are pretty big but run the same direction. We are located where the Grand Prix fire hit. I remember the city asking us to move the horses, days before the fire actually reached us. Not because of the fire, (we planned on getting them out way before that), but because they anticipated a shift in the winds. The smoke! Crazy times. (then of course came the floods) So remembering that, when seeing the dust flying through the air, 8:00 to 4:30 and plans to continue for 6 months. Thinking to myself this could = huge vet bill. But hey at least people are working! Now they are keeping things pretty wetted down. I stopped dead in my tracks yesterday when I heard her wheezing. But it's really hard to tell with her. She makes some pretty bizarre sounds sometimes. Kind of a whinnie, snort thing. I thought who would know the answer to this...Horseadvice.com and Dr. 0!
Member:
mrose

Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 8:42 pm:

I'm glad things are better. Even with out the dust it will be noisey and annoying while they are working.
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