We don’t hear as much about acid rain in the news any more. Certainly not like we used in to the 70’s or 80’s. Back then, new research was emerging that indicated that rainwater was becoming more acidic due to emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Most of these emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels released by automobiles, or power plants that use coal or oil to generate electricity. Nature can also produce some of these gases, such as when volcanos release various gases into the air.
The gases that are produced from these processes end up combining with water vapor in the atmosphere and form nitric and sulphuric acids. So the term “acid rain” is actually quite accurate in it’s description.
But a question came up regarding acid rain. Since we don’t hear so much about it anymore, is it still happening? Is it a problem? And specifically for a pond owner (which is who this article is mainly for), can it affect my pond in any way?