How does acid rain affect lakes and streams?

When acid rain passes through soils or falls directly into lakes and streams, it can increase the acidity of the water. Higher acidity can hinder some fish and water plants from reproducing, growing and surviving. In some acidified lakes and streams, entire fish populations have disappeared.

For example, many lakes in the Adirondack Mountains of New York and many streams in the Appalachian mountain region have lost trout and other aquatic life due to acid rain. The effects of acid rain can be either"chronic" or "episodic". Chronic acidity occurs when lakes and streams cannot counteract the chemical changes brought about by acid rain.

This results in constant high acidity levels in the water. Episodic acidity occurs only periodically, primarily as a result of storms or snowmelts that empty large amounts of acidic water into lakes and streams. In the case of episodic acidity, lakes and streams suffer from intense but short-lived increases in acidity.

In the spring, when such episodes ... more.

In some parts of the world, the lakes are in limestone, which neutralizes acid from rain. But in other areas, including parts of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, the lakes are in granite, which does not weaken the acid. While the acid in such lakes is relatively weak, it is enough to kill fish, salamanders, frogs and many bacteria in lakes.

Tiny water plants might also die. This is why a the water in a lake that's acidic might look very pure while a healthy lake might have cloudy water because of the natural plant life thriving in it. The U.S. EPA's Effects of acid rain page has more information.

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