The Adirondacks
Uploaded by Admin on Nov 18, 1999
The Adirondacks are a group of mountains surrounded by many lakes and rivers, that cover over 5,000 square miles in the northeastern part of New York. There are a lot of large tourist villages on every lake. Motor boating and other water activities take place on almost every lake in the area. It is a vacation paradise for thousands. But, industrial emissions from Canada and the Ohio river valley always drift to this area and cause acid rain. This silent killer is destroying these beautiful lakes and their surrounding watersheds. Acid rain has an adverse effect on the lakes, and their surrounding watersheds, of the Adirondacks in New York State.
Acid rain is defined as chemically polluted rainfall. It's causes are: coal burning plants, industrial factories, smelters, and car emissions. It's formed by water molecules combining with the sulfur dioxide emitted by the burning of coal and with nitrogen oxide from auto emissions. The result is an acidity level that's harmful to fish, wildlife, plants, and trees. Already, 1,200 lakes in the U.S. have been completely acidified so the lake water is unfit for human use and little or nothing can live in it.
Such is the case in the Adirondacks, which are a group of mountains surrounded by many lakes and rivers. They cover over 5,000 square miles in the northeastern part of New York state. It's an area where large resort villages are around the Saranac river and Lake George. Lumbering and mining for iron and graphite go on in this area and it was once a place for major industry. Unfortunately, this is an area where acid rain has become a regular part of the water that flows through it.
In recent years, acid rain hasn't really been in the news because people have felt that the problem has been taken care of so, therefore, it's not around anymore. However there has been no evidence that the acidification of lakes in the Northeastern U.S. has stopped or even slowed down. The analysis of sediments from lakes in the Adirondacks has shown that acidity started rising in the 1930's and 40's and has been rising steadily ever since. There are two possible reasons for this. Scientists have been studying the chemistry of the rain and they've discovered that while the deposition of sulfuric acid has decreased in the last two years, the deposition of nitric acid has increased. This means that...