Summaries
China has seen an increase in the problem of acid rain over the past decade. Coal powered plants, which count for 69 percent of China’s energy in 2004, have produced large quantities of air pollutants. Toxins like sulfuric acid can be carried over hundreds of miles in the atmosphere and deposited as precipitation. The acidic precipitation causes severe damage to forest areas in China. Both foliage and soil suffer from negative effects of acid rain. Along with forest defoliation, stream water in regions of acid rain contains a lower pH, which could destroy local ecosystems. China does recognize the problem, though and are giving the problems of air pollution and acid rain high priority. The main framework for pollution reduction is the acid-rain control zone that was created by China as the costs of air pollution at over tens of billions of dollars. Even though the problem is recognized, still the demand for energy in China causes more coal plants to be created and a continuation of environmental hazards. Reduction measures need much more support and execution in China to help prevent further damage by acid rain and air pollution.

In the 1970s surface waters in the Adirondack region was found to be acidic, starting large scale surveys to assess the damage caused by acid rain. Stream water suffers the strongest influence from acid rain. The studies have found that strongly acidic anions and base cations or base-cation surplus (BCS) has affected the stream water of the Adirondacks. To better understand the acidic change in stream water, 200 streams were analyzed in the Western Adirondack Stream Survey from 2003 to 2005. Precipitation amount was measured and sampling was carried out in different months over the two years at the streams in the Adirondacks. Also pH and BCS were analyzed in each stream. The data collected was then used to determine which streams were acidified by acid rain. Chronic acidification was then discovered in over one third of the streams surveyed, mostly in the higher elevations of the eastern Adirondacks. Mostly, the study was to support the theory that BCS was a strong identifier of acidification in streams from acid rain. The stream chemistry is the best indicator at the moment.

Answers:
The main contributors to acid rain are sulfuric and nitrogen based air pollutants expelled from dirty coal and oil plants that are carried over distance in the atmosphere and deposited as precipitation. The lowest pH listed in the readings was in Sudbury, Canada at around 3.0, while other places in China range from 5.0 4.0 and the average Adirondack stream was about a pH of 6.0. Acid rain impacts are defoliation of forest trees, soil damage, and ecosystem damage as stream waters and other surface waters become acidic, creating toxic environments for many forms of life. The focus of acid rain research is to determine the damage to vegetation and to see how acidic surface waters become from acid rain deposits. To solve the problem, stricter monitoring of coal plants and the reduction of dirty coal plants are being implemented, but not at any great rate. There can only be a solution to help decrease the amount of pollutants put into the air, but the acidic contaminates already in the atmosphere cannot be removed and the surface water cannot be neutralized without more chemicals.

1) For the streams in the Adirondacks, do the acidic streams run into larger bodies of water and have any significant damage on lake or pond ecosystems that could further affect the region?
2) China’s reduction policies do not seem to be very specific in working to fix the amount of air pollutants pumped into the atmosphere, for a growing economy like China, why are not more jobs being offered to help solve the acid rain problem more assertively? It seems like a potentially strong economical job market for the future.
3) Why has there not been a higher public push for the reduction of acid rain world wide as it seems to be a problem that effects everyplace as the air pollutants can travel far before deposited?