Trout water pollution effects

Ponce, R.A. and N.S. Bloom. 1991. Effect of pH on the bioaccumulation of low level, dissolved methylmercury by rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Water Air Soil Pollut. 56 631-640. 

These acid rains caused the water of the lakes in Scotland to have pHs of 2.4 in the 1970s, that is an acidity similar to that of vinegar. A fifth of the Swedish lakes have lost a large portion of their fish, in particular trout which cannot survive in pHs lower than 5. The agricultural damage, the corrosion of the metals of buildings, the harmful effects on the respiratory systems must also be attributed to sulphur pollution. Thus the annual cost of the corrosion by acid rains in the USA has been estimated to be worth lO l US dollars. 

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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