Acid rain problems?

Question

on industry, building erosion, wild life, plants trees, rivers/lakes/ponds, livestock-copper/calcium deficiencies

aby1 who answers this will be awarded best answer and will be greatly appreciated thanks

Answer 1

Acid rain is considered by many people to be one of the most serious environmental problems of our time. It is a global problem that is gradually affecting our world. The term acid rain was coined by Angus Smith when he wrote about industrial pollution in England.

Some rain is naturally acidic because of the carbon dioxide (CO2) in air that dissolves with rain water and forms a weak acid. This kind of acid in rain is actually beneficial because it helps dissolves minerals in the soil that both plants and animals need.

Recently there has been some concern that the acidity of rain caused by man has increased over the last several decades. Acid rain attacks wildlife, crops and lakes. It can cause the death of forests and damage buildings and monuments. It is even harmful for human beings.

Studies carried out in the early 1980's showed rainfalls in parts of North America and Western Europe to be as acidic as lemon juice or vinegar and, in some cases, as acidic as battery acid!

Needless to say. rainwater of this acidity is not very healthy for an environment. Aquatic plants and animals cannot survive large changes in acidity, and increases in acid rain have meant extinction for some populations of water plants, insects, frogs, salamanders, and freshwater fish. Indeed, some forms of rocks, like limestone and marble, are also dissolved by acid rain.

The solution to acid rain problems is not a simple one. As power plants in Canada and the American Midwest change over to coal-fired systems, lakes in New England and Canada sicken and die at an accelerating rate. Like the issues of cross-border pollution discussed above, problems of acid rain have become interstate and international in their scope and can be resolved only by the interaction of many governmental and private agencies.

Many experts would agree with the description of acid rain given so far. But how serious is this problem? Some authorities feel the environmental damage caused by acid rain is one of the most severe problems faced in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. They suggest that many lakes and forests and the animals that live in them are being destroyed. They recommend immediate and aggressive legislation to cut down on the emissions that result in acid rain.

Other observers do not share this sense of urgency. For example, the administration of President Ronald Reagan continually expressed the view that too little was known about the cause, nature, and effect of acid rain to justify national legislation. Reagan's policy was to ask for further studies on the issue.

Important support for this position was provided in a 1989 report of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP). This report cost $500 million, reviewed hundreds of research studies, and took nearly a decade to complete. It concluded that "acid rain is a problem, but it is not the extreme problem that is sometimes reported in the media."

Some authorities have pointed out the political and economic significance of the NAPAP findings. If acid rain recommendations before Congress at the time the study was issued had been passed, they say, industries would have had to spend $4 billion for new emission control equipment. In addition, 16,030 miners would have lost their jobs. A newsletter of the Chemical Manufacturers Association commented on this turn of events. "If the NAPAP report is to be believed," it said, "those jobs will be sacrificed without achieving significant gains in environmental quality."



Acid rain is caused by pollution. Pollutants like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide stay in the atmosphere and eventually react with the moisture in the air. When this polluted moisture falls to the ground, it is called acid rain. The source of these pollutants is not only from burning fossil fuels, but from both motor vehicle and chemical manufacturing exhaust.

Sulphur dioxide is unlike other kinds of acid pollution because it does not react with moisture until it has been taken long distances by the wind. Even worse is that rain and snow are not the only ways the environment can be damaged by air pollution. Dry fallout from sulphur dioxide can still affect the environment.

Although places like the Adirondacks in New York have been seriously damaged because the lime in their soil is so easily dissolved by acid rain, there are ways to bring it under control. When both the United States and Canada began reducing the amount of sulphur dioxide released into the air, fresh water lakes and ponds in parts of Canada showed some improvement.

Answer 2

On-line data and reports on acid rain, atmospheric deposition and precipitation chemistry.


The USGS is the lead federal agency for the monitoring of wet atmospheric deposition (chemical constituents deposited from the atmosphere via rain, sleet and snow) in the United States. The USGS atmospheric deposition program provides:

1) participation and leadership in the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, National Trends Network (NADP/NTN).
2) scientific research and assessment to evaluate the effects of atmospheric deposition on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
http://bqs.usgs.gov/acidrain/

Answer 3

See if these help, they are from questions I have asked (for my brother):

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhuAOsakPMjJwfjVfwkO5eH44gt.?qid=20070501104404AAYbGGd

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsgPz9bQDqKTQ7Cd49zMqob54gt.?qid=20070501104233AAI87l2

Hope that helps

Ashley