ACID RAIN

Acid Rain in Canada – Why all the

fuss?
Policies and Accords in North America
Convention on Long-Range Trans boundary Air
Pollution (1979)
Eastern Canada Acid Rain Program (1985)
First Sulphur Protocol (1985)
Canada-US Air Quality Agreement (1991)
Second Sulphur Protocol (1994)
Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and
Ground-level Ozone (1999)
Canada-wide Acid Rain Strategy for Post-2000
(1998)
 Effects of Acid Rain
the final result …
Forest Soils and Ecosystems

- Acid
Increased
removes
acidity
the waxy
altersprotective
the chemistry
coating
of soil
on
(allows leaching of toxins to occur)
leaves
- This reduces plants’ ability to survive winter,
drought and their ability to reproduce
 Effects of Acid Rain

60 years ago Today

Acropolis in Greece Today

• Human-made Structures and Materials

- Limestone based buildings, sculptures,
paint, as well as metal, glass, paper,
leather, fabrics and rubber can be
damaged or changed in some way
- Structural damage to roadways, other
building materials can occur
 Effects of Acid Rain

• Human Health
- Can cause harmful effects to the cardiac
and respiratory systems
- Toxins leaching into environment (i.e.
mercury) can be absorbed by the crops we
harvest, the livestock we consume, and the
fish we eat.

In the year 2010, the public health benefits of the Acid Rain Program
(implemented to reduce acidic emission levels) were estimated to be
valued at $50 billion annually in the U.S.A., due to decreased mortality,
hospital admissions, and emergency room visits.
 Bioaccumulation, or the uptake of toxin (i.e. PCBs) occurring at one
Effects of Acid Rain on
trophic level, is taking place at each level of the food chain. (i.e.
Aquatic Ecosystems
fish eats many worms and toxin builds up in that fish’s fatty
tissues) Good indicator
Biomagnification, or the increase of toxin species for acid
•inAcid
the fatty
Raintissues
lowers of each
the successive
pH of water in lakes,rain rivers,
problem
organism,
streams occurs
andallwetlands
the way up the food
chain! The top predator (eagle) contains
•the
Low pHtoxin
most canwhile
causeeachthe leaching
of the lowest of toxic metals, such
as mercury,
(plankton) contain iron &amount
a small aluminum into the water
of toxin.
• Acidic pH can cause a disappearance of crustaceans,
insects, mollusks & decomposing bacteria, a build-up
of debris on lake bottoms, deformities in young fish,
failure of fish and amphibian eggs to hatch, etc.
• Animals higher on food chain lose food sources, bio-
accumulation/bio-amplification of toxins occurs
• Limestone helps to “buffer” the effects of acid rain,
but areas with granite bedrock (i.e. Canadian Shield)
have little buffering ability! Calcium that was
present in these ecosystems is severely depleted!
 What is Acid Rain?
Rain has a natural pH of 5.6
This is due to CO2 mixing with water to
form carbonic acid in the atmosphere,
lowering rainwater’s pH from 7 to 5.6.
Acid precipitation is any precipitation
with a pH less than 5.6.

ACIDIC ALKALINE
or BASIC
So What Causes Acid Rain?
Our Bad Guys …

SO2 NOx
Natural Sources of SO2
in the Atmosphere

SO2

Forest Fires

Sea Spray
Volcanic Emissions
 Non- Natural Sources of SO2
in the Atmosphere

Burning of fossil fuels

Coal-burning plants
& non-ferrous smelting

• 85-90% of sulphur entering the atmosphere is

from non-natural sources

 Sources of Acid Rain (SO2)
• Sources of Sulphur Dioxide Emissions

from www.ec.gc.ca/acidrain/acidfact.html
 Chemical Reactions
Many metals (i.e.: nickel) occur in nature as sulphide ores. To
convert them to free metals, the ores are smelted using heat,
and sulfur is released as SO2.
2 NiS + 3 O2 2 NiO + SO2

Heat

In the air, SO2 mixes with water vapour and

undergoes chemical changes to form sulphuric
acid, or “acid rain”.

SO2 + H20 oxidation H2SO4 (sulphuric acid)

Non-
ferrous Sulphur Acid
Smelting of = Dioxide = Precipitation
Ores, Coal
Burning
 So how do we stop this SO2 ?

Before After
scrubber scrubber

A cleaning or “scrubber” process using calcium carbonate

(limestone) is often used to remove about 90% of SO2
before emission. The remaining product, calcium sulphate,
must be buried in a landfill, and carbon dioxide is released
as a by-product. WHY WOULD CO2 RELEASE BE BAD?

CaCO3 + SO2 CaSO3 + CO2

 Courtesy of Environment Canada

The SO2 Situation

Natural Sources of NOx
in the Atmosphere

NOx

Decomposition of
Organic Materials

Volcanic Emissions
 Non-Natural Sources of NOx
in the Atmosphere

Exhaust from vehicles Burning of other

fossil fuels

• 60-70% of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere come from

non-natural sources, particularly vehicle exhaust
 Sources of Acid Rain (NOx)
• Sources of Nitrogen Oxide Emissions

from www.ec.gc.ca/acidrain/acidfact.html
 Chemical Reactions
• Nitrogen to Nitric Acid
Nitrogen given off by automobiles is released
to the air in the form of NOx
NOx in the atmosphere mixes with water
vapour to form nitric acid. The speed of these
oxidation reactions can increase if sunlight is
present.

NOx + H20 Oxidation HNO3 (nitric acid)

 Courtesy of Environment Canada

The NOx Situation

 Acid Rain in Canada
• Problem Areas:
blue – critical load not a concern for 2010 and beyond
red to yellow – critical load will exceed levels needed for
environment to recover and reduce current acidity (in other
words acidity will contine to increase after 2010 )

•Map of areas sensitive to acid rain – Ministry of the Environment

Critical Load and Why It’s Important
Critical load values kg/ha/year of sulphate
in precipitation

Courtesy Environment Canada

The critical load is the highest level of acid rain that an ecosystem can receive over the
long term that won’t result in harmful effects to the environment (the load the
environment can tolerate and keep pH levels above 6). The colours in the map
represent the maximum load the area can tolerate (see scale at upper left). The
numbers in the map show the amount of sulphate presently precipitating on these
areas.
So why are some areas
affected more than
others by acid rain?
Soils and bedrock determine an ecosystems ability to
tolerate high levels of acid precipitation.
Remember the Scrubbers? Industry uses calcium
carbonate (limestone) to remove sulphates from their
emissions. People learned to do this from nature!
Soils containing limestone have a greater “buffering
capacity” or ability to absorb the H+ cations that
cause acidity. Soils/bedrock with little limestone
(like the granite on the Canadian Shield) cannot
absorb any H+ cations, so the environment becomes
acidic quickly.
Question: Acid Rain Sensitive
Lake Environment or Not?
This lake has a limestone substrate (bottom) that
acts as a buffer to acid precipitation. Note the
healthy emergent vegetation along the shoreline
and
Bothlittle algae
lakes mayisbepresent.
sensitive to acidification depending
on the amount of acid precipitation they receive, but the
granite soil based lake is less able to cope with acid
precipitation
This Canadian Shield lake has been damaged by acid
precipitation. Note its banks have little if any
vegetation. Algae coats the bottom and no lifeforms
are present. This lake is located in the Temagami area
of Northern Ontario, where granite bedrock and soils
allow no buffering of acid precipitation.
 Here’s the problem!

Winds
Acid Precipitation is being
dumped onto our Canadian
Sensitive Areas!

Note typical
Canadian
Expression of
Shock and Horror
With the reductions in emissions, pH
seems to be improving … but not as
well as we’d expect!

Changes in pH of Precipitation
1983-2001
It looks like things are improving with
SO2!
So Why Haven’t pH levels Improved?

Nitrate
levels are
still a
problem
and may
increase in
future!
 How can we reduce nitrogen
emissions?
• Cleaner-burning engines
• “Hybrid” vehicles
• Cleaner fuels – i.e. gasoline that emits
90% less SO2 and NOx
• Alternative fuels – ethanol, methanol etc.
• NOx emission controls for vehicles and
the Harley of the new Millennium?
industry
• More eco-friendly transportation
alternatives
 Are ecosystems able to recover
from Acid Rain?
• Yes! Southern Ontario has seen improved water quality and pH
levels, but waters in the Canadian Shield have shown little
improvement

• Challenges We Face
Sensitive Areas - Drought and dry weather cause release of
sulphates accumulated in soil. These sulphates are washed into
aquatic environments when precipitation does occur, further
depleting calcium levels in ecosystems already low in calcium.

The U.S.A. will meet their S02 and NOx emission target levels
set out in the 1991 agreement, but scientists estimate a further
reduction of 75% is necessary to protect our Sensitive Canadian
Shield waters which are prone to acidification
 Factors that Affect pH of
Water and Soils Today
• Calcium that was present in Sensitive Areas is
now used up! Many fundamental organisms in
the food chain (like Daphnia which is a
Keystone Species) require calcium to develop!
Therefore, even though lake acidity levels
are slowly improving, ecosystems are not. It
will take much time, study, effort and
Ecosystems are based on keystone life-forms
continued
like thisemission controls
Daphnia, which to allow
require calcium to nature to
recover.
exist. Its simple … no calcium, no ecosystem!
The End Result … hopefully

healthy aquatic and

terrestrial ecosystems like this …
not this!

It’s up to us!
Help Conserve Our Natural Resources!
© Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority 2016
No part of this presentation is to be copied or shared without permission.
 Monitoring Acid Rain
• Canadian Air and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CAPMoN)
 Monitoring Acid Rain Here
at Longwoods
• Precipitation Collection

Wet Only Deposition Collector Nipher Shielded Snow Gauge

Standard Rain Gauge

 Monitoring Acid Rain
• Air Filters
Dry Deposition Cellulose

Collection
Teflon Nylon

Sequential Air3 Sampler

Stage Filtering Pack
Air Filter Measurement
Sampling Head and filtration sections
Assembled 3 Stage Filtering Pack
Air is sucked in from outside. Different particle filters in each filter pack collect “dry
deposition” particles and gases.
-a Teflon filter collects sulphate, nitrate, chloride, potassium, ammonia, magnesium
and sodium.
-a Nylon filter collects nitrogen oxide gas.
-a Cellulose filter collects sulphur dioxide gas.
Help Conserve Our Natural Resources!
© Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority 2016
No part of this presentation is to be copied or shared without permission.