Sources discharges

The most pronounced in upland lakes and streams remote from intensive agriculture
and point source discharges. Here organisms are adapted to water of low alkalinity,
ionic strength and nutrient concentrations.

a. Sensitivity is highest for waters draining peats and acid soils overlying acid
bedrock with low weathering rates, e.g. granites, sandstones, greywackes and
schists. Geologically sensitive areas include Dartmoor, Exmoor, Snowdonia and
the Cambrian mountains of central Wales, the Pennines, the North York moors,
Lake District, Galloway, the Trossachs, Scottish Grampian mountains and the
mountains of Mourne.
b. Waters begin to acidify once base cation buffering is exhausted, through
deposition of mineral acids, and replaced by increasing amounts of H + and
Al3+ ions.
c. Al3+ ions can be toxic to a range of aquatic fauna.
d. Reduced pH and alkalinity reduces viability of a range of aquatic plants from
algae to macrophytes.
e. Unlike sulphate, nitrate levels could remain high or rise even if N deposition falls.
This is because ammonium ions can be converted into nitrate ions: oxidised,
nitrified by microbes, both in the soil and on the surface of foliage.
f. Acid neutralising capacity has been related to biota, a critical limit was defined as
20 µ eq l-1 above which long-term decline in brown trout populations would not be
expected. At an Acid Neutralising Capacity (ANC) of zero, trout populations fell in
50% of Norwegian lakes (Lien et al 1996). However, high (Dissolved Organic
Carbon) DOC concentrations can compromise ANC and relationships with
aquatic organism health can vary over the course of the life cycle, making ANC
an unreliable guide to ecological protection.
g. Loss of acid-sensitive species at all trophic levels including primary producers,
macrophytes and top predators, e.g. fish and water fowl

Acid deposition can be justified as any form of precipitation with acidic components with
a pH level of less than 5.6, such as sulfuric or nitric acid, that fall to the ground from the
atmosphere in wet or dry forms. As a result, acid deposition from atmospheric
precipitation makes soils, lakes and ponds become acidic. This process begins when
sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, typical air pollutants, are transformed into sulfuric
and nitric acid compounds in the atmosphere, with resultant changes of their properties.
These acid compounds are carried by the wind as fine particles on sunny days. They
dissolve in raindrops on rainy days or within clouds, then fall to the earth's surface and
making the environment acidic.

Acid rain has many ecological effects, especially on lakes, streams, wetlands, and
other aquatic environments. Acid rain makes such waters more acidic, which results in
more aluminum absorption from soil, which is carried into lakes and streams.
That combination makes waters toxic to crayfish, clams, fish, and other aquatic
animals. (Learn more about the effects of water pollution.) Most acid rain caused by
human activities. Some species can tolerate acidic waters better than others.
However, in an interconnected ecosystem, what affects some species eventually
affects many more throughout the food chain, including non-aquatic species such as
birds.

Acid rain and fog also damage forests, especially those at higher elevations. The acid
deposits rob the soil of essential nutrients such as calcium and cause aluminum to be
released in the soil, which makes it hard for trees to take up water. Trees' leaves and
needles are also harmed by acids.

The effects of acid rain, combined with other environmental stressors, leave trees and
plants less healthy, more vulnerable to cold temperatures, insects, and disease. The
pollutants may also inhibit trees' ability to reproduce. Some soils are better able to
neutralize acids than others. But in areas where the soil's "buffering capacity" is
low, such as parts of the U.S. Northeast, the harmful effects of acid rain are much
greater.

Acid deposits damage physical structures such as limestone buildings and cars. And
when it takes the form of inhalable fog, acid precipitation can cause health
problems including eye irritation and asthma.

The only way to fight acid rain is by curbing the release of the pollutants that cause it.
This means burning fewer fossil fuels and setting air-quality standards.