Acid Rain in the Shenandoah National Park

Technical Briefing
NR 1234: FYE Natural Resources and Environment
Nicholas Franco

The Industrial Revolution is arguably one of the most significant time periods in history
because it marked a new era for mankind. This particular time period represented the transition
from manual labor to new technologies which made manufacturing processes more effective and
efficient in the workforce. It is often said that competition can lead to the creation of new ideas,
and this concept cannot be better represented than during the Industrial Revolution. This was an
exciting time because inventors would compete with each other in order to create the newest and
greatest types of technology that would further increase the quality of life for mankind. However,
these inventions required new types of fuel, and wood was soon replaced by fossil fuels such as
coal and oil. These new fuel sources powered factories and machines that greatly increased the
quality of life and lifespan for the individuals who lived during this era. Without fossil fuels, one
can only speculate where mankind would be in modern society. Nevertheless, the use of coal and
oil had unforeseen consequences and ultimately lead to pollution and environmental degradation.
At the time, many people ignored the problem because they were more concerned about further
developing society than the environment that they lived in. The impacts of the pollution from the
Industrial Revolution are still felt in modern society, particularly in the form of acid rain.
Acid rain is measured by using the pH scale which is a quantitative measure of how
acidic (low pH) or alkaline (high PH) a solution truly is (Rice 2007). Acid rain is currently
defined as rain that is 4.6 units or less on the pH scale which is about ten times more acidic than

regular rain water, which is 5.6 units on the pH scale (Rice 2007). Acid rain occurs due to natural
processes such as volcanic eruptions or forest fires but the main cause of acid rain is human
activities, specifically the combustion of fossil fuels (Rice 2007). The combustion of coal results
in sulfur dioxide emissions and the combustion of oil results in the emissions of nitrogen oxides
(Rice 2007). These two compounds are released into the atmosphere and react with water vapor
to produce sulfuric and nitric acids (Rice 2007). These two acids are the main components in
acid rain and are deposited back down to the surface of the earth in the form of precipitation
(Rice 2007). Environmental problems of this category were not addressed until the rise of the
20th century which is the main reason why organizations such as the National Park Service were
created in the United States. These groups were established in order to manage and conserve
some of the only pristine environments left in America (Rice 2007).
One piece of land that the National Park Service created was the Shenandoah National
Park which has attracted visitors from all over Virginia who want to take full advantage of the
many activities that the park has to offer (Rice 2007). Some of these activities include hiking to
one of the various cascades located within the park, backcountry and wilderness camping, and
observing the local flora and fauna in their habitats (Rice 2007). At first glance, it may seem like
the National Park Service has been successful in preserving the natural resources of the
Shenandoah National Park, but there is one main threat to the local environment: acid rain (Rice
2007). This specific environmental problem is a concern for the park because acid rain has the
potential to destroy ecosystems by polluting many of the local bodies of water that are located
within the park. The Shenandoah National Park will continue to be threatened by acid rain until
park managers understand how acid rain is formed and how acid rain can best be treated. This

must be done in order to revert the pH levels of the bodies of water in the Shenandoah National
Park back to their former and more neutral state.
Acid rain is a particular concern in the Shenandoah National Park because it temporarily
reduces the acid-neutralizing capacity (ANC) of the bodies of water that are located within the
park (Rice 2006). Acid-neutralizing capacity is also referred to as episodic acidification and is
defined as the capacity of a solution to neutralize strong acids (Deviney 2006). In laymans
terms, ANC is the ability of an acidic body of water to revert back to its neutral and more natural
state (Deviney 2006). When studying the acid-neutralizing capacity of a body of water, a low
ANC usually indicates little capacity to neutralize acidity, whereas a high ANC indicates a
greater capacity to neutralize acidity (Rice 2006). In general, a body of water with a low acidneutralizing capacity usually has a low pH and a body of water with a higher acid-neutralizing
usually has a neutral pH (Deviney 2006). The primary concern with episodic acidification in the
Shenandoah National Park is that it is usually a reoccurring problem (Rice 2006). This can be
said because once a body of water becomes neutral again, it is only a matter of time before acid
rain occurs and turns the body of water acidic (Deviney 2006).
Episodic acidification due to acid rain can cause a host of negative consequences in the
Shenandoah National Park because it is often considered to be a ubiquitous process that can
have long-term adverse effects on fish populations (Webb 1995). This can be said because some
aquatic species are more sensitive to even the slightest changes in pH and acid-neutralizing
capacity values (Rice 2006). For example, when a body of water undergoes episodic
acidification during a critical life cycle of a fish, the organism might perish due to the fact that it
has not adapted to such harsh living conditions (Rice 2006). Because of this, it is often said that
episodic acidification is thought to be a controlling factor on fish populations in the park (Rice

2006). This can cause the diversity of aquatic organisms in the park to decrease, and those who
cannot adapt to an acidic environment will most likely die. Many experts have come to the
conclusion that precise relations between episodic acidification and fish populations are still
unknown, but one can only speculate how episodic acidification will impact the food chains in
the Shenandoah National Park (Rice 2006). Despite these accusations, some believe that episodic
acidification is less of a threat than was originally thought because of stream salamander
populations within the park (Evan 2005). Stream salamanders such as the brook salamander
(Eurycea), dusky salamander (Desmognathus), and spring salamander (Gyrinophilus) are
potential indicators of stream health (Evan 2005). Stream salamanders are sensitive to
acidification, drought, contaminants and habitat destruction or alteration such as urbanization,
logging and road construction (Evan 2005). This information is significant because one can
conclude that a stream can be considered unhealthy if there is a decline in the population of these
few species. Various studies have been conducted over the past few decades where the
population of stream salamanders have been observed, and it was concluded that there was not
any overwhelming evidence of stream salamander response to stream acid-base status in
streams at Shenandoah National Park (Evan 2005).
Acid rain can be considered to be a global problem because pollution does not have any
boundaries (Helme 1991). Once fossil fuel emissions are released into the environment, nitric
and sulfuric acids may travel around the globe and remain in the atmosphere until precipitation
occurs (Helme 1991). This can be said because the National Academy of Sciences suggested
that emissions of sulfur dioxide from electric power plants were being carried hundreds of miles
by prevailing winds and that they were being transformed in the atmosphere into sulfuric acid
(Helme 1991). Because of this, there are a variety of different solutions that are capable of

treating the environmental problem of acid rain. This realization occurred during the 1980s, and
it took Congress more than a decade to address this environmental problem (Helme 1991). The
United States Congress enacted the Clean Air Act of 1990 which contains comprehensive
provisions to control the emissions that cause acid rain (Claussen 1991). This piece of
legislation was created to restrict sulfur dioxide emissions and nitrogen oxide emissions from
being released into the atmosphere (Claussen 1991). The Environmental Protection Agency
developed an acid rain program under the Clean Air Act of 1990 where power plants would have
a market-based allowance-trading system that would provide power plants with maximum
flexibility in reducing emissions (Claussen 1991). For example, if a power plant exceeded their
emission allowance for the month, they would be able to purchase allowances from power plants
that have not exceeded their quota (Claussen 1991). The allowance system provides incentives
for power plants to reduce their emissions substantially more than is required since allowances
freed by installing pollution-control equipment can be sold for profit (Claussen 1991).
These pieces of legislation are effective on a nationwide scale but will not reduce acid
rain on a global scale. Because pollution does not have boundaries, fossil fuel emissions may be
at an all-time low for a country, but it may still experience acid rain due to pollution from a host
of different countries around the globe. This particular solution will not combat the issue of acid
rain in the Shenandoah National Park because park managers have to target specific bodies of
water. The most effective and efficient method that park managers can use to reverse episodic
acidification is the act of liming (Helfrich 2009). Liming is the process of adding limestone to
acidic bodies of water in order to revert its pH value back to its near-neutral state (Helfrich
2009). Liming would be the preferred method to address the problem of acid rain in the
Shenandoah National Park because it is one of the most cost-effective methods of slowing the

effects of acidification, restoring acidic waters, and enhancing the abundance and diversity of
aquatic life (Helfrich 2009). Liming would be useful to treat acidic bodies of water in the
Shenandoah National Park because park managers could specifically target affected areas.
Liming can restore the food chain of a formerly acidic body of water from the smallest algae to
the biggest fish in the food chain, the population of acidic or acidifying lakes gradually reestablish themselves after liming (Stevens 1989). However, there are some draw backs with this
solution because the typical application rate for acidic waters is 1-2 tons of agricultural
limestone (CaCO3) per surface acre for the initial liming (Helfrich 2009). This can prove to be
problematic because additional treatments may be needed for very acidic lake or those with fast
flushing times that may be acidified more quickly (Helfrich 2009).
At this point in time, key questions now face scientists and policy makers who are
concerned about the prognosis for future stream water chemistry changes in the Shenandoah
National Park and the extent to which acid rain will need to be reduced to allow ecosystem
recovery and prevent any further damage (Sullivan 2006). In modern society, mankind should
be more concerned about completely abolishing the environmental problem of acid rain instead
of just reducing it. However, acid rain will continue to be a problem in the modern world as long
as fossil fuels are used. So, until humanity reaches a point in time where they are replaced by
alternative sources of energy, various methods must be used to manage the problem. Methods
such as creating legislature that addresses the problem of acid rain does more to raise awareness
about the issue than it does to actually reduce the effects of acid rain. Keeping this in mind, the
Shenandoah National Park would benefit more by liming the areas of the park where episodic
acidification occurs. Liming is one of the only methods that actually reverses the effects of acid
rain and, if the process proves to be successful, than other regions around the globe may decide

to use this treatment method as well. However, as liming is only a short-term solution, it is up to
the general public to consciously try to reduce fossil fuel emissions in order to prevent acid rain
from continuing to occur.
Works Cited
Claussen E (1991). Acid Rain: The Strategy. EPA Journal. Volume 17, Issue 1.
Deviney F, Rice K, Hornberger G (2006), Time series and recurrence interval models to predict
the vulnerability of streams to episodic acidification in the Shenandoah National Park,
Virginia, Water Resource. Volume 42, W09405, doi: 10.1029/2005WR004740.
Evan H, Grant C, Jung R, Rice K (2005). Stream Salamander Species Richness and Abundance
in Relation to Environmental Factors in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. University
of Notre Dame. 153(2):348-356.
Helfrich L, Neves R, Parkhurst J (2009). Liming Acidified Lakes and Ponds. Department of
Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
420-254.
Helme N, Neme C (1991). Acid Rain: The Problem. EPA Journal. Volume 17, Issue 1.
Rice K, Deviney F, Hornberger G, Webb J (2006) Predicting the Vulnerability of Streams to
Episodic Acidification and Potential Effects on Aquatic Biota in Shenandoah National
Park, Virginia. United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Park
Service. 2005-5259.
Rice K, Deviney F, Olson G (2007) Acid rain in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. United
States Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Park Service. Accessed online
November 1, 2014: http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/gpo7154/FS2007-3057.pdf.
Stevens W (1989). To Treat the Attack of Acid, Add Limestone to Water and Wait. ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.
Sullivan T, Cosby B, Webb J, Dennis R, Bugler A, Deviney F (2006). Stream water acid-base
chemistry and critical loads of atmospheric sulfur deposition in Shenandoah National
Park, Virginia. Business Media B.V. Volume 137, Issue 85.
Webb J, Miller-Marshall L, Webb J (1995). Long-Term Changes in Episodic Acidification of
Streams in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, U.S.A. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Volume 85, Issue 517.