the soil and the lakes. Therefore over time, the basic environment shifts
from an alkaline to a acidic one. This is why many lakes in the Muskoka,
Haliburton, Algonquin, Parry Sound and Manitoulin districts could lose
their fisheries if sulphur emissions are not reduced substantially.
ACID
The average mean of pH rainfall in Ontario's Muskoka-Haliburton lake
country ranges between 3.95 and 4.38 about 40 times more acidic than
normal rainfall, while storms in Pennsilvania have rainfall pH at 2.8 it
almost has the same rating for vinegar. Already 140 Ontario lakes are
completely dead or dying. An additional 48 000 are sensitive and
vulnerable to acid rain due to the surrounding concentrated acidic soils.
ACID RAIN CONSISTS OF....?
Canada does not have as many people, power plants or automobiles as the
United States, and yet acid rain there has become so severe that
Canadian government officials called it the most pressing environmental
issue facing the nation. But it is important to bear in mind that
acid rain is only one segment, of the widespread pollution of the
atmosphere facing the world. Each year the global atmosphere is on the
receiving end of 20 billion tons of carbon dioxide, 130 million tons of
suffer dioxide, 97 million tons of hydrocarbons, 53 million tons of
nitrogen oxides, more than three million tons of arsenic, cadmium, lead,
mercury, nickel, zinc and other toxic metals, and a host of synthetic
organic compounds ranging from polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) to toxaphene
and other pesticides, a number of which may be capable of causing cancer,
birth defects, or genetic imbalances.
COST OF ACID RAIN
Interactions of pollutants can cause problems. In addition to
contributing to acid rain, nitrogen oxides can react with
hydrocarbons to produce ozone, a major air pollutant responsible in the
United States for annual losses of $2 billion to 4.5 billion worth of
wheat, corn, soyabeans, and peanuts. A wide range of interactions can
occur many unknown with toxic metals. In Canada, Ontario alone has lost
the fish in an estimated 4000 lakes and provincial authorities calculate
that Ontario stands to lose the fish in 48 500 more lakes within the next
twenty years if acid rain continues at the present rate.Ontario is not
alone, on Nova Scotia's Eastern most shores, almost every river flowing to
the Atlantic Ocean is poisoned with acid. Further threatening a $2 million
a year fishing industry.
THE DYING
Acid rain is killing more than lakes. It can scar the leaves of hardwood
forest, wither ferns and lichens, accelerate the death of coniferous
needles, sterilize seeds, and weaken the forests to a state that is
vulnerable to disease infestation and decay. In the soil the acid
neutralizes chemicals vital for growth, strips others from the soil and
carries them to the lakes and literally retards the respiration of the soil.
The rate of forest growth in the White Mountains of New Hampshire has
declined 18% between 1956 and 1965, time of increasingly intense acidic
rainfall. Acid rain no longer falls exclusively on the lakes, forest, and
thin soils of the Northeast it now covers half the continent.
EFFECTS
There is evidence that the rain is destroying the productivity of the once
rich soils themselves, like an overdose of chemical fertilizer or a
gigantic drenching of vinegar. The damage of such overdosing may not be
repairable or reversible. On some croplands, tomatoes grow to only
half their full weight, and the leaves of radishes wither. Naturally it
rains on cities too, eating away stone monuments and concrete
structures, and corroding the pipes which channel the water away to the
lakes and the cycle is repeated. Paints and automobile paints have its life
reduce due to the pollution in the atmosphere speeding up the corrosion
process. In some communities the drinking water is laced with toxic
metals freed from metal pipes by the acidity. As if urban skies were not
already grey enough, typical visibility has declined from 10 to 4 miles,
along the Eastern seaboard, as acid rain turns into smogs. Also, now
there are indicators that the components of acid rain are a health risk,
linked to human respiratory disease.
PREVENTION
However, the acidification of water supplies could result in increased
concentrations of metals in plumbing such as lead, copper and zinc
which could result in adverse health effects. After any period of non-use,
water taps at summer cottages or ski chalets they should run the taps for
at least 60 seconds to flush any excess debris.
STATISTICS
Although there is very little data, the evidence indicates that in the
last twenty to thirty years the acidity of rain has increased in
many parts of the United States. Presently, the United States annually
discharges more than 26 million tons of suffer dioxide into the
atmosphere. Just three states, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois are
responsible for nearly a quarter of this total. Overall, two-thirds of
the suffer dioxide into the atmosphere over the United States comes from
coal-fired and oil fired plants. Industrial boilers, smelters, and
refineries contribute 26%; commercial institutions and residences 5%;
and transportation 3%. The outlook for future emissions of suffer
dioxide is not a bright one. Between now and the year 2000, United
States utilities are expected to double the amount of coal they burn. The
United States currently pumps some 23 million tons of nitrogen oxides into
the atmosphere in the course of the year. Transportation sources account
for 40%; power plants, 30%; industrial sources, 25%; and
commercial institutions and residues, 5%. What makes these figures
particularly distributing is that nitrogen oxide emissions have tripled in
the last thirty years.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Acid rain is very real and a very threatening problem. Action by one
government is not enough. In order for things to be done we need to find
a way to work together on this for at least a reduction in the
contaminates contributing to acid rain. Although there are right steps in
the right directions but the government should be cracking down on
factories not using the best filtering systems when incinerating or if
the factory is giving off any other dangerous fumes. I would like to
express this question to you, the public:WOULD YOU RATHER PAY A LITTLE NOW
OR A LOT LATER?
