The problem of acid rain was first discovered in the 1950s when a lot of living organisms in lakes where seen dead. Research had proven that acidic rivers and lakes that fish had lived contained much more than average amounts of acid resulting them into death from acidic precipitation.
Winter is when acid rain is most acidic; this is because during the winter you intend to burn more fossil fuels, which then release huge amounts of waste gasses that pollute the atmosphere more than average, making more acidic rain than you usually expect in one year.
Acid rain has many severe effects on the environment; the cause of this problem is mainly down to large countries such as England, Germany and France who pollute the air with sulphur dioxide from vehicle fumes, electric power plants and other things such as burning coal. The sulphur dioxide is then carried by the prevailing south-westerly winds over the north and Baltic seas to be deposited over Scandinavia. Scandinavia is seen to cause the least amount of offences regarding sulphur dioxide pollution but they are most affected by the outcome.
The pollution that is caused by the means of acid rain can have a variety of effects on the environment that are mostly negative such as; acid rain being a form of chemical weathering on buildings that are constructed from limestone or marble. Acid rain can also contaminate water supplies by dissolving the lead and copper pipes which transport the water to houses and other buildings. Another effect of acid rain is the pollution that is caused on lakes and reservoirs killing most of the wildlife, this includes trees plants and animal habitats
The table above shows likely solutions meant for acid rain. I have rated these solutions 1 to 5, with 5 being the worst solution for the problem and 1 being the best solution to the problem.
From my examination of the negative problem of acid rain I am going to put forward potential solutions to the rising crisis. In addition I am going to present my opinions of how the problem of acid rain can be cut down and then optimistically stopped on a whole. Acid rain is an international crisis, making it vital that people and the governments from all countries work together with one another in order to tackle the problem. Acid rain is caused by a diversity of effects, for example co2 emissions from vehicles and power stations and burning fossil fuels such as coal and gas. In result of this there must be more than one solution in order to prevent the problem. The three solutions I have considered to solve the problem are;
Repairing the damage
I have considered this solution as one of my major resolutions because repairing the damage will not make the problem increase. Also by repairing the damage we are able to balance the PH of rivers and lakes by adding alkaline so species are therefore able to live there again.
Nuclear power
The reason I have chose this is simple it’s because nuclear power rarely causes pollution unlike coal power plus it has a very low risk of contamination in the event of an accident. Only once have we ever had a major accident with nuclear power moreover since then more power stations have been built and they have all been handled safely resulting in clean power.
Cutting down on domestic use of electricity
The last solution I have considered was cutting down on domestic use of electricity. This solution is very simple to be done; all it requires is turning off unused electricity such as lights and leaving electrical equipment on standby. By doing this you can save up to £3000 per year. Another excellent thing about this is that it does not cost anything to do this and it will cut down on pollution dramatically.
Out of the three solutions I have stated I believe the greatest one to be chose to put forward is cutting down on domestic use of electricity. I have chosen this because of the reason being it will not cost to be done instead it will ironically save them thousands each year. If every house in each country began to do this there will be a dramatic decrease in the use of fossil fuels which are used to provide electricity. The public will back up this solution because this will save them a lot of money through the years. The government will also back this solution as the country will decrease in the demand of electricity.
The second solution in using nuclear power is my second favorite the reason being because it will not cause any further pollution, although it will cost a huge sum of money it will be less money through the years. The down side of nuclear power is that it contains low levels of pollutants which are a form of heat pollution.
My third and final solution is repairing the damage, I have picked this reason because I think that it will keep the acid rain to a low level as the water will get neutralized ever so often. It would cost a substantial amount of money to stop the problem increasing even though the problem still may occur as. Groups that will support this solution are the government and farmers because farmers have acid rain on their crops which kill them resulting in a loss of money.
