National Surface Water Survey NSWS

Ideally, lakes and streams have a pH between 6 and 8. However, according to the National Surface Water Survey (NSWS) conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency between 1984 and 1986, the most acidic lake in the country, Little Echo Pond in Franklin, New York, had a pH of 4.2. According to the same survey, the Pine Barrens region of New Jersey also has a very high percentage of acidic rivers. More than 90% of the streams in that area are considered acidic. This is very bad news for the fish that live in these lakes and streams. 

Acid rain primarily affects sensitive bodies of water, that is, those that rest atop soil with a limited ability to neutralize acidic compounds (called buffering capacity ). Many lakes and streams examined in a National Surface Water Survey (NSWS) suffer from chronic acidity, a condition m which water lias a constant low (acidic) pH level. The survey investigated tlie effects of acidic deposition in over 1,000 lakes larger than 10 acres and in thousands of miles of streams believed to be sensitive to acidification. Of the lakes and streams surveyed in the NSWS, arid rain has been determined to cause acidity in 75 percent of the acidic lakes and about 50 percent of tlie acidic streams. Several regions in the U.S. were identified as containing many of the surface waters sensitive to acidification. They include, but are not limited to, the Adirondacks. the mid-Appalachian highlands, the upper Midwest, and the high elevation West. 

A large study of acidity in U.S. lakes and streams, called the National Surface Water Survey (NSWS), concluded that over 2000 lakes and streams in the eastern United States have high acidity levels due to acid rain. In many sensitive lakes and streams, acid levels are high enough that fish species, such as the brook trout, have been eradicated. In the worst cases, acid levels are so high that the entire lake is effectively dead, supporting no marine life. Eastern Canada has also been affected by pollutants from U.S. power plants. The Canadian government estimates that 14,000 lakes in eastern Canada are acidic, at least partly due to U.S. emissions. 

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