ACID RAIN

Acid rain has been shown to have adverse impacts on forests, freshwaters, and soils, killing insect
and aquatic life-forms, causing paint to peel, corrosion of steel structures such as bridges, and
weathering of stone buildings and statues as well as having impacts on human health.

Effects of Acid Rain

• Effects of Acid Rain on Ecosystems

• Effects of Acid Rain on Materials
• Other Effects of SO2 and NOX
o Visibility
o Human Health

The Effects of Acid Rain on Ecosystems

An ecosystem is a community of plants, animals and other organisms along with their environment
including the air, water and soil. Everything in an ecosystem is connected. If something harms one
part of an ecosystem – one species of plant or animal, the soil or the water – it can have an impact
on everything else.

Effects of Acid Rain on Fish and Wildlife

The ecological effects of acid rain are most clearly seen in aquatic environments, such as streams,
lakes, and marshes where it can be harmful to fish and other wildlife. As it flows through the soil,
acidic rain water can leach aluminum from soil clay particles and then flow into streams and lakes.
The more acid that is introduced to the ecosystem, the more aluminum is released.

Some types of plants and animals are able to tolerate acidic waters and moderate amounts of
aluminum. Others, however, are acid-sensitive and will be lost as the pH declines. Generally, the
young of most species are more sensitive to environmental conditions than adults. At pH 5, most
fish eggs cannot hatch. At lower pH levels, some adult fish die. Some acidic lakes have no fish.
Even if a species of fish or animal can tolerate moderately acidic water, the animals or plants it
eats might not. For example, frogs have a critical pH around 4, but the mayflies they eat are more
sensitive and may not survive pH below 5.5.

Effects of Acid Rain on Plants and Trees

Dead or dying trees are a common sight in areas effected by acid rain. Acid rain leaches aluminum
from the soil. That aluminum may be harmful to plants as well as animals. Acid rain also removes
minerals and nutrients from the soil that trees need to grow.

At high elevations, acidic fog and clouds might strip nutrients from trees’ foliage, leaving them
with brown or dead leaves and needles. The trees are then less able to absorb sunlight, which makes
them weak and less able to withstand freezing temperatures.

Buffering Capacity

Many forests, streams, and lakes that experience acid rain don’t suffer effects because the soil in
those areas can buffer the acid rain by neutralizing the acidity in the rainwater flowing through it.
This capacity depends on the thickness and composition of the soil and the type of bedrock
underneath it. In areas such as mountainous parts of the Northeast United States, the soil is thin
and lacks the ability to adequately neutralize the acid in the rain water. As a result, these areas are
particularly vulnerable and the acid and aluminum can accumulate in the soil, streams, or lakes.

Episodic Acidification

Melting snow and heavy rain downpours can result in what is known as episodic acidification.
Lakes that do not normally have a high level of acidity may temporarily experience effects of acid
rain when the melting snow or downpour brings greater amounts of acidic deposition and the soil
can’t buffer it. This short duration of higher acidity (i.e., lower pH) can result in a short-term stress
on the ecosystem where a variety of organisms or species may be injured or killed.

Nitrogen Pollution

It’s not just the acidity of acid rain that can cause problems. Acid rain also contains nitrogen, and
this can have an impact on some ecosystems. For example, nitrogen pollution in our coastal waters
is partially responsible for declining fish and shellfish populations in some areas. In addition to
agriculture and wastewater, much of the nitrogen produced by human activity that reaches coastal
waters comes from the atmosphere.

• Learn more about Nitrogen Pollution

• EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program Office

Effects of Acid Rain on Materials

Not all acidic deposition is wet. Sometimes dust particles can become acidic as well, and this is
called dry deposition. When acid rain and dry acidic particles fall to earth, the nitric and sulfuric
acid that make the particles acidic can land on statues, buildings, and other manmade structures,
and damage their surfaces. The acidic particles corrode metal and cause paint and stone to
deteriorate more quickly. They also dirty the surfaces of buildings and other structures such as
monuments.
The consequences of this damage can be costly:

• damaged materials that need to be repaired or replaced,

• increased maintenance costs, and
• loss of detail on stone and metal statues, monuments and tombstones.

Other Effects of SO2 and NOX

Visibility

In the atmosphere, SO2 and NOX gases can be transformed into sulfate and nitrate particles, while
some NOX can also react with other pollutants to form ozone. These particles and ozone make the
air hazy and difficult to see through. This affects our enjoyment of national parks that we visit for
the scenic view such as Shenandoah and the Great Smoky Mountains.

• Learn more about Visibility and Regional Haze

Human Health

Walking in acid rain, or even swimming in a lake affected by acid rain, is no more dangerous to
humans than walking in normal rain or swimming in non-acidic lakes. However, when the
pollutants that cause acid rain —SO2 and NOX, as well as sulfate and nitrate particles— are in the
air, they can be harmful to humans.

SO2 and NOX react in the atmosphere to form fine sulfate and nitrate particles that people can
inhale into their lungs. Many scientific studies have shown a relationship between these particles
and effects on heart function, such as heart attacks resulting in death for people with increased
heart disease risk, and effects on lung function, such as breathing difficulties for people with
asthma.

• Sulfur Dioxide
• Nitrogen Oxides
• Particulate Matter (PM)
 • Asthma

In addition, NOX emissions also contribute to ground level ozone, which is also harmful to human
health.

• Learn more about Ground Level Ozone

Important Measures to Control Acid Rain

Some of the major procedures that must be followed to control acid rain are as follows:
The phenomenon of acid rain is highly interactive problem and remedial measures to control
it are very expensive.

1. Reduce amount of sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen released into the atmosphere
i. Use less energy (hence less fuel burnt)

ii. Use cleaner fuels

iii. Remove oxides of sulphur and oxides of nitrogen before releasing

(a) Flue gas desulphurization

(b) Catalytic Converters

2. Use cleaner fuels

i. Coal that contains less sulphur

ii. “Washing” the coal to reduce sulphur content

iii. Natural Gas

3. Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD)

i. Removes sulphur dioxide from flue gas (waste gases)
ii. Consists of a wet scrubber and a reaction tower equipped with a fan that extracts hot smoky
stack gases from a power plant into the tower

iii. Lime or limestone (calcium carbonate) in slurry form is injected into the tower to mix with the
stack gases and reacts with the sulphur dioxide present

iv. Produces pH-neutral calcium sulphate that is physically removed from the scrubber

iv. Sulphates can be used for industrial purposes

4. Use other sources of electricity (i.e. nuclear power, hydro-electricity, wind energy,
geothermal energy, and solar energy)
i. Issue of cost

5. Reducing the effects of Acid Rain by Liming

i. Powdered limestone/limewater added to water and soil to neutralize acid:

ii. Used extensively in Norway and Sweden

iii. Expensive, short-term remedy