Are Adirondack lakes still being affected by acid rain? (Ridge: home, tornadoes)

[homeward bound]

Anyone know of the status of this problem? Has it improved, worsened, remained the same? Steps being taken/blocked/proposed?

By the way, as a sidebar on the natural resources question generally, I think the states that are relatively rich in water resources--NY gloriously among them, of course--ought to begin taking steps now to strengthen their control on their water resources. This may sound yet another apocalypse-prediction, but beyond the occasional (and, reportedly, likely to worsen) obvious droughts affecting the West, the aquifers out there are incredibly low. And getting lower every year. So I wonder what, say, cash-starved, job-bleeding Michigan will do if/when Western states dangle a lot of money in front of say a Michigan to send some water their way. I know that America has an agreement with Canada on regulating any Great Lakes diversions, but, still.... Fresh water is bound to become as precious and diminishing a resource as oil. Are the budget-crises states prepared to resist or at least reasonably doubt whatever pressures and temptations they're as of now legally free to consider?

[Fallingwater79]

Originally Posted by homeward bound

Anyone know of the status of this problem? Has it improved, worsened, remained the same? Steps being taken/blocked/proposed?

By the way, as a sidebar on the natural resources question generally, I think the states that are relatively rich in water resources--NY gloriously among them, of course--ought to begin taking steps now to strengthen their control on their water resources. This may sound yet another apocalypse-prediction, but beyond the occasional (and, reportedly, likely to worsen) obvious droughts affecting the West, the aquifers out there are incredibly low. And getting lower every year. So I wonder what, say, cash-starved, job-bleeding Michigan will do if/when Western states dangle a lot of money in front of say a Michigan to send some water their way. I know that America has an agreement with Canada on regulating any Great Lakes diversions, but, still.... Fresh water is bound to become as precious and diminishing a resource as oil. Are the budget-crises states prepared to resist or at least reasonably doubt whatever pressures and temptations they're as of now legally free to consider?

Slowly but surely they are trying to come back but it is sad to come across one during a hike and see that eeire voidness that is an acid poisoned lake....no life in them

As for the water shortages, with the northern states home to most of the fresh water of the world, millions of former residents may find out sadly that sunny and hot won't seem that appealing when you're using your bath water to flush toilets and lush and green only happens on Mother Nature's clock.....we may have cloudy and snowy but as a result, we have an endless supply of fresh water too....

I think it was a congressman from NM who made a comment about piping water from the GLs to the waterless southwest and the backlash was quick ....

Should get very interesting as this drought intensifies!

[honeychrome]

As Smalltown said, they are just starting to show signs of recovery, though it is likely to be short lived. The acid rain that affected the NE came from the Ohio River valley coal-powered plants and with the rising cost of oil there is increasing pressure to ramp up coal fired power generation. So-called 'clean coal' is an expensive proposition that won't be a realistic option, at least not if we're going to try and sustain the kind of economic growth rates that cheap oil has made possible for the last century. Its going to be a tough one- demand for cheap(ish), domestic energy versus clean water. Sadly, for a majority of Americans a 40" plasma-screen TV is currently a higher priority than clean water- and the same holds true for economic decision makers for whom 'standard of living' is a quantifiable numeric dollar measure (the retail cost of a plasma-screen TV) as opposed to clean water which is a 'quality of life' measure that is much more problematic when it comes to assigning a dollar value. If you are concerned with acid rain in the Adirondaks, keep your eye on what is going on in Ohio.

And like Smalltown also implies- there may soon come a day when we'll be very grateful for our dreary, damp, snowy winters (as long as we don't start getting snowstorms that bring lightning and tornadoes with them...).

[Fallingwater79]

And like Smalltown also implies- there may soon come a day when we'll be very grateful for our dreary, damp, snowy winters (as long as we don't start getting snowstorms that bring lightning and tornadoes with them...).

Who da thunk we'd ever look at our weather as a blessing!

As for our wasteful consumption of water in this country, there's what is referred to as the paradox of value in the economic world which menas that we'll pay huge money for diamonds which are largely mined as trinkets of wealth yet our mainstay of life, water, is so cheap. We may be heading in a direction that alters that completely as global warming or whatever you want to call it continues/intensifies and fresh water becomes a commodity as battled for as oil..........

[Tioga]

....The Adirondacks are showing a SLOW, but steady improvement in the ph of it's bodies of water. And I do mean Slow. Everyone online now will be..well..not online..by the time the Adirondack lakes and ponds have recovered to a great degree.

[homeward bound]

Any gauge on what % of the Adirondack Lakes are acidified?

Any measure of the progress made (e.g., .25% decrease in acidity per year, etc.)?

What makes some lakes more susceptible/damaged than others? Altitude? Wind patterns? Drainage area? Underlying/surrounding geology?

Is a list of more/less affected lakes available?

Is this affecting Lake George and the Upper Hudson as well?

How are the forests doing?

Are there on-going ph-correction efforts for the lakes & forests?

Does the tourist industry/local govt. up there hide or mask the problem? I certainly haven't heard it addressed in all the Adirondack-related websites I go to.

I don't mean to minimize Ohio's suffering as it continues to bleed industrial jobs, but maybe one benefit of their having fewer industries there is less acid rain for the Adirondacks & New England. Like the benefit that the Great Lakes got/are getting by the (painful) loss of industry all around them. I remember Lake Erie as a toilet while the steel plants and other heavy industries were going strong. Now, of course, Erie is much, much cleaner--and the great blue-collar jobs are largely gone, too. I know that some of this improvement came from better controls on city sewage and fertilizer run-off, but the loss of industry certainly helped the lakes clean themselves. A sad but I guess necessary and inevitable trade-off.

It may be cold comfort, if it's comfort at all, but you would probably be surprised to see what kind of toxic haze we've had over the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains for the last 20 years. It seems to be getting worse year by year. The scientists say it's mostly from the Midwest coal burning, but also from more local sources, such as increased car usage and coal-fired plants right around here (southwest Virginia, Tennessee, West Virginia, etc.). On many mid-summer days you can't see more than a mile or two--whereas 30 years ago, under the same weather conditions, you could see for 20 and 30 miles.

Fuel cells, we need you!

[suescanal]

Sorry to hear about the Blue Ridge & Smokies-
About a year ago, I heard that several Eastern states were going to sue the Mid-Western polluters, but don't know what became of it.
Anyone know?

[Tioga]

..."ADIRONDACK LIFE" magazine had an excellent article covering the whole acid rain problem an issue or 2 back, as I recall.....

[hmtklein]

Originally Posted by Tioga

..."ADIRONDACK LIFE" magazine had an excellent article covering the whole acid rain problem an issue or 2 back, as I recall.....

Yeah it was this issue....

Adirondack Life
Volume XXXVIII, No. 8
November/December 2007

Very interesting - they had lots of visual aids it is worth checking out