In the last post, we have seen the causes of acid rain1. Now, we will see how acid rain is harmful to human health and the environment, and we also looking for is prevention and mitigation to reduce its harmful effect.
Components of acid rain:
The major components of acid rain are sulfur dioxide/sulfur trioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide dissolves in water drops. When these air pollutants are dissolved in water during rain it forms various acids. The chemical reactions of these pollutants are discussed as follows.
- CO2+H2O → H2CO3 (carbonic acid)
- SO2+H2O → H2SO3 (sulfurous acid)
- NO2+H2O → HNO3 (nitric acid)
Effects of acid rain on the environment:
Harmful effects on plants:
plants are destructed due to increased acidity in the soil, nutrients from the soil, and slowing plant growth, poisoning plants, creates brown spots in leaves of trees, impeding photosynthesis, allows organisms to infect through broken leaves.
Effects on human health:
Due to the presence of a high concentration of air pollutants in the atmosphere, its Causes respiratory problems, asthma, dry coughs, headaches, and throat irritations; the Leeching of toxins from the soil by acidic water can be absorbed by plants and animals. When consumed these toxins by humans it affects human life severely, which causes brain damage, kidney problems, and Alzheimer's disease.
Effects on aquatic life:
Due to increasing the acidity in water bodies that Stops eggs of aquatic organisms (e.g. fish) to stop hatching, Changes population ratios and affects their ecosystem.
Effect on transport:
In present, both railway transportation and airplane transportation have to spend a lot of money to repair the corrosive damage done by acid rain. Bridges have collapsed in the past due to acid rain. Acid rain dissolves the stonework and mortar of buildings.
How can we prevent our environment from acid rain?
There are many ways used to reduce acid deposition and precipitation. Some of them are as follows:
Clean up smokestacks and exhaust pipes:
Most of the power plants are working on fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil. However, exhaust emission of these fuels is the main cause of acid rain released into the atmosphere. Coal fuel contains a large account of SO2 and NOx emissions.
There are several options for reducing SO2 emissions, including using coal which containing less sulfur, washing the coal, and using SOx control devices called scrubbers to chemically remove the SO2 from the gases leaving the smokestack and recycling to use as a raw material.
Power plants can also switch fuels; for example, burning natural gas creates much less SO2 than coal. Certain approaches will also have additional benefits of reducing other air pollutants such as carbon dioxide.
Understanding these "co-benefits" has become important in seeking effective air pollution reduction strategies.
Use alternative energy sources:
There are other sources of electricity such as nuclear power, hydropower, wind energy, geothermal energy, and solar energy.
Of these, nuclear and hydropower are widely used;
Due to less power capacity; wind, solar, and geothermal energy have not yet been harnessed on a large scale.
There are also alternative energies available in the market to power automobiles, including CNG gas-powered vehicles, battery-powered cars, fuel cells, biofuels and biodiesel, and combinations of alternative and gasoline-powered vehicles. All those sources of energy have environmental costs as well as benefits.
