Acid Rain

It is imperative that the gap between knowledge and action be closed quickly - otherwise much will be lost. Several important studies funded by the German Marshall Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, The European Economic Community, and other national and international agencies have helped define the issue of acid rain, measure its effects, and document potential responses to the problem. Yet, the political aspect of devising an acceptable, as well as functional, program to abate this pollution has been all but neglected. The ramifications of this oversight plague the world today.

Acid rain has emerged in the past few decades from a regional problem to a global problem covering vast amounts of the earth's surface. Scientists have used the term "acid precipitation" because of the occurrence of "wet" deposits of acid snow, sleet, hail, mist, fog, frost, and dew, as well as rain. Now, because of the role of "dry" d

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nada are already damaged, in some cases irreparably, by the effects of acid deposition. Sweden now has over 5,000 lakes with pH values below 5.0 and 15,000 fishless lakes due to acidity. Studies also show that mass mortalities of fish correspond with snowmelt in the spring (Whelpdale, 1983, pp. 48-53). NORTH AMERICAN LAKES Lakes in the Adirondack Mountains in New York ranged in pH from 6.0 to 8.0 in 1930, with only 4 percent of the lakes lower than 5.0. By 1975, the average pH of these lakes was 4.1 to 4.3, with 51 percent of the 217 mountain lakes having pH values below 5.0. Nearly 90 percent of the low pH lakes have lost their bountiful fish stocks. In Minnesota, rangers in the Boundary waters Canoe Area report increased levels of mercury in trout, walleyed pike and northern pike. Lakes in the vicinity of Sudbury, Ontario, have pH values as low as 3.2. In the La Cloch Mountain region of Canada, 28 out of 67 lakes have lost the majority of their fish populations due to acid deposition. A comparison of lakes in southern Norway, which receives severe acid deposition, shows a significant shift to lower pH values in recent decades resulting in the massive death of fish stocks (Whelpdale, 1983, pp. 39-53). The increase o
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Approximate Word count = 2491
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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