FREE ESSAY ON THOUGHTS ON ACID RAIN

THOUGHTS ON ACID RAIN

Acid Rain
THOUGHTS ON ACID RAIN
Acid rain is a serious problem with disastrous effects. Each day this serious problem
increases, many people believe that this issue is too small to deal with right now this
issue should be met head on and solved before it is too late. In the following paragraphs
I will be discussing the impact has on the wildlife and how our atmosphere is being
destroyed by acid rain. CAUSES Acid rain is a cancer eating into the face of Eastern
Canada and the North Eastern United States. In Canada, the main sulfuric acid sources are
non-ferrous smelters and power generation. On both sides of the border, cars and trucks
are the main sources for nitric acid (about 40% of the total), while power generating
plants and industrial commercial and residential fuel combustion together contribute most
of the rest. In the air, the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can be transformed into
sulfuric acid and nitric acid, and air current can send them thousands of kilometers from
the source. When the acids fall to the earth in any form it will have large impact on the
growth or the preservation of certain wildlife. NO DEFENCE Areas in Ontario mainly
southern regions that are near the Great Lakes, such substances as limestone or other
known antacids can neutralize acids entering the body of water thereby protecting it.
However, large areas of Ontario that are near the Pre-Cambrian Shield, with quartzite or
granite based geology and little top soil, there is not enough buffering capacity to
neutralize even small amounts of acid falling on the soil and the lakes. Therefore over
time, the basic environment shifts from an alkaline to an acidic one. This is why many
lakes in the Muskoka, Haliburton, Algonquin, Parry Sound and Manitoulin districts could
lose their fisheries if sulfur 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 Pennsylvania 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, 97million 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 biphenyl's (PCBs) totoxaphene 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 4.5billion
worth of wheat, corn, soybeans, and peanuts. A wide range of interactions can occur in
many unknowns with toxic metals. In Canada, Ontario alone has lost the fish in an
estimated 4000lakes 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% between1956 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 smog. 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