Question

ACID RAIN IN INDIA SEE PICTURES

Answer 1

PUNE: Pollution is causing “life-giving“ rain to become increasingly acidic in many parts of the country, particularly in the last decade, research by 

India Meteorological Department

 and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology has revealed.


Analysis of rainwater samples from Nagpur, Mohanbari (Assam), Allahabad, Vishakapatnam and Kodaikanal in the decade 2001-2012 showed a pH level varying from 4.77 to 5.32, indicating that these places have been receiving “acid rain“- rainwater with pH below 5.65 is considered acidic.


Potential of hydrogen, or pH, is a scale to measure acidity or alkalinity of a solution, where 7 is 'neutral'. For lesser values, acidity increases with decreasing count.


Acid rain causes acidification of soils and lakes, said scientists who were part of the study. “It causes leaching of soil nutrients, which means that these nutrients are not available to plants and crops grown in the soil, 

affecting crop nutrition

 and productivity. Among other harmful effects, acid rain has had a corrosive effect on monuments in the country, like the 

Taj Mahal

,“ they said. Acid rain is a result of rain water in the 

atmosphere

 mixing with polluting gases like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emitted from power plants and automobiles.