Acid Precipitation

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Still, even the fragmentary available evidence points to a number of dangerous terrestrial effects ... including threats to human health. The presence of sulfate and nitrate compounds in the air over the Northeast has been shown to correlate with a pollution-related death rate (resulting from lung disorders and cancer) that is roughly twice that of areas with cleaner air.

Acid rain is also damaging the quality of domestic water supplies, both private and public. Folks who depend on cisterns for their potable water may have dangerous levels of lead, zinc, and/or aluminum in their drinking supplies ... resulting from deterioration of the catchments and from suspended material. Throughout much of the East, collecting rainwater for drinking is unsafe. Furthermore, some reservoirs have become so acidic that they must be treated (largely with lime) at tremendous expense. Low-pH water also increases the corrosion rate of many types of plumbing ... contaminating drinking supplies with copper, zinc, or lead from pipes.

In many regions it's no longer healthful to eat fish caught from local lakes, since the creatures are likely to contain dangerous concentrations of aluminum and/or mercury that have been liberated by acid precipitation. Officials in New York advise that children and pregnant women not eat any fish caught in the state's lakes.

Acid precipitation also degrades soil quality and can result in stunted plant growth. Calcium and magnesium are leached from the soil by low-pH rain, and such elementary processes as reproduction, nitrogen fixation, and photosynthesis may be slowed or interrupted. The protective waxy coating on leaves is sometimes stripped away by acid rain, and the presence of low-pH precipitation makes it especially likely that greenery will draw toxins, such as lead and cadmium, from the soil. Some crops are more affected by these problems than others ... but we do know, for example, that soybean yields in some areas are already being reduced by acid precipitation.

Valuable inanimate materials are also feeling the bite of contaminated rain, snow, etc. Buildings made from limestone and marble—substances that are especially susceptible—are showing prominent pitting (the U.S. Capitol is a case in point). Even relatively acid-resistant granite structures are being damaged... since calcium-based mortar is used to bond the blocks in such buildings. Furthermore, metals are more prone to corrosion in an acid environment. It's frightening to contemplate the dollar value of damage to automobiles that are rapidly rusting away because of acid rain.

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