Surface waters acid deposition

Acid rain control will produce significant benefits in terms of lowered surface water acidity. If acidic deposition levels were to remain constant over the next 50 years (tlie time frame used for projection models), the acidification rate of lakes in the Adirondacks that are larger than 10 acres would rise by 50 percent or more. Scientists predict, however, that the decrease in SO emissions required by the Acid Rain Program will significantly reduce acidification due to atmospheric sulfui Without the reductions in SO2 emissions, the proportions of aquatic systems in sensitive ecosystems that are acidic would remain high or dramatically worsen. 

From flux calculations at this Sargasso Sea station, Gagosian and Nigrelli (1979) found that a maximum of 0.05—0.3% of the sterols produced by phytoplankton in surface waters are deposited to the ocean floor. A similar calculation was done for hydrocarbons by Farrington and Tripp (1977) and found to be 0.01—1%. The sterol residence time (the average lifetime of a sterol molecule before it is metabolized) in the euphotic zone was calculated to be approximately one month, whereas the deep-water residence time value was found to be 20—150 years. This monthly turnover of surface water sterols is in contrast with that of more labile dissolved organic compounds such as amino acids whose turnover time has been estimated to be on the order of several days (Lee and Bada, 1977). 

The consensus in scientific understanding at the time was largely due to having a few locations, such as the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, described in detail in subsequent chapters, where there were high quality time series of both rainfall pH and surface water acidity, and where very careful experimentation had been done to understand the processes involved. Such high quality time series were of enormous value in understanding the processes by which acid deposition was affecting surface waters, soils, and ultimately forest ecosystems. 

In a similar procedure, the atomizer test, which depends on the behavior of an advancing rather than a receding contact angle, a fine mist of water is apphed to the metal surface and the spreading of water is observed. On a clean surface, water spreads to a uniform film. With oleic acid as the test soil, the atomizer test can detect the presence of 10 mg of soil per cm, less than a monomolecular layer (115). For steel that is to be electroplated, the copper dip test is often employed. Steel is dipped into a cupric salt solution and the eveimess of the resulting metallic copper deposit is noted. 

Pretreatment For most membrane applications, particularly for RO and NF, pretreatment of the feed is essential. If pretreatment is inadequate, success will be transient. For most applications, pretreatment is location specific. Well water is easier to treat than surface water and that is particularly true for sea wells. A reducing (anaerobic) environment is preferred. If heavy metals are present in the feed even in small amounts, they may catalyze membrane degradation. If surface sources are treated, chlorination followed by thorough dechlorination is required for high-performance membranes [Riley in Baker et al., op. cit., p. 5-29]. It is normal to adjust pH and add antisealants to prevent deposition of carbonates and siillates on the membrane. Iron can be a major problem, and equipment selection to avoid iron contamination is required. Freshly precipitated iron oxide fouls membranes and reqiiires an expensive cleaning procedure to remove. Humic acid is another foulant, and if it is present, conventional flocculation and filtration are normally used to remove it. The same treatment is appropriate for other colloidal materials. Ultrafiltration or microfiltration are excellent pretreatments, but in general they are... 

Acid deposition refers to the transport of acid constituents from the atmosphere to the earth s surface. This process includes dry deposition of SO2, NO2, HNO3, and particulate sulfate matter and wet deposition ("acid rain") to surfaces. This process is widespread and alters distribution of plant and aquatic species, soil composition, pH of water, and nutrient content, depending on the circumstances. 

Land, vegetation, and bodies of water are the surfaces on which acidic deposition accumulates. Bodies of fresh water represent the smallest proportion of the earth s surface area available for acidic deposition. Yet, the best-known effect is acidification of freshwater aquatic systems. 

Consider a lake with a smaU watershed in a forest ecosystem. The forest and vegetation can be considered as an acid concentrator. SO2, NO2, and acid aerosol are deposited on vegetation surfaces during dry periods and rainfalls they are washed to the soil floor by low-pH rainwater. Much of the acidity is neutralized by dissolving and mobilizing minerals in the soil. Aluminum, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium are leached from the soil into surface waters. The ability of soils to tolerate acidic deposition is very dependent on the alkalinity of the soil. The soil structure in the... 

Legislation enacted by both Canada and the United States (see the US-Canada Air Quality Accord, 1991) will, when implemented, reduce the North American emissions of sulphur dioxide by about 50% based upon the 1980 baseline. These projected emission fields have been appplied in the atmospheric source-receptor models that were described above, to provide a projected deposition field for acidic sulphate that would be expected (14). The predicted sulphate deposition fields have then subsequently been appUed in aquatic effects models that provide estimates of regional surface water acidification distributions (50). The regional acidification profiles have then been used in a model of fish species richness (51) that results in an estimate of the expected presence of fish species as compared to that expected in an unacidified case. 

SPFM experiments were performed on sulfuric acid deposited on the surface of aluminum films on silicon. A macroscopic droplet was first deposited and then rapidly dispersed using a jet of gas. This produced submicrometer-sized droplets. The initial concentration of the sulfuric acid ranged from 20 to 98 wt.%. However, the acid droplets equilibrate rapidly with the ambient water vapor. For example, at room temperature and RH = 30%, the concentration of sulfuric acid is 55 wt% at 90% RH, it is 20 wt%. The increase in droplet volume as they equilibrate with the ambient humidity is shown in Figure 35. 

Ye, X., Hao, J., Duan, L., Zhou, Zh. (2002). Acidification Sensitivity and Critical loads of Acid Deposition for Surface Waters in China. The Science of the Total Environment, 289, 189-203. 

Section 4.3 sets out the principles underlying the structure of the silicate mineral family. Natural clay deposits are formed by the chemical weathering of rocks -largely as a result of the attack by slightly acidic surface waters. Rainwater,... 

Cadmium is found naturally deep in the subsurface in zinc, lead, and copper ores, in coal, shales, and other fossil fuels it also is released during volcanic activity. These deposits can serve as sources to ground and surface waters, especially when in contact with soft, acidic waters. Chloride, nitrate, and sulfate salts of cadmium are soluble, and sorption to soils is pH-dependent (increasing with alkalinity). Cadmium found in association with carbonate minerals, precipitated as stable solid compounds, or coprecipitated with hydrous iron oxides is less likely to be mobilized by resuspension of sediments or biological activity. Cadmium absorbed to mineral surfaces (e.g., clay) or organic materials is more easily bioaccumulated or released in a dissolved state when sediments are disturbed, such as during flooding. 

Nitric acid is very soluble in water, so it dissolves in rain and other forms of precipitation and is carried to Earth s surface in the form of acid deposition. 

One reason that the term acid deposition is preferred to the term acid rain is that sulfuric and nitric acid formed by the processes described may return to Earth s surface in either a wet or a dry form. Wet deposition consists of acids dissolved in water, as occurs in acid rain or acid snow. Dry deposition occurs when acids or nonme-tallic oxides remain in gaseous form or adhere to solid particles, on which they are carried to the ground. About half of the components of acid deposition fall back to Earth in each of these two forms, wet and dry. 

Wigington, P. J. Davies, T. D. Tranter, M. Eshleman, K. Episodic Acidification of Surface Waters Due to Acidic Deposition Acidic Deposition State of Science and Technology Report 12 National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program Washington, DC, 1990. 

---