Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 31, 1990 TAG: 9005310141
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The state periodically appears on the environmental group's monthly list of states with the worst acid rain pollution, largely because of pollution that travels to Virginia from Midwestern states, an Audubon spokeswoman said.
"It shows up from time to time. A couple of years ago you could sort of dismiss acid rain as just a Northeast problem. Now, it's starting to turn up throughout the country," Christine Indoe said Wednesday from the group's New York headquarters.
"Virginia is right in the path of some of the most serious pollutants coming from the Midwest," Indoe said.
Acid rain is the term given to pollution formed when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants, factories and cars mix in the atmosphere. The pollutants eventually fall back to earth as precipitation and dust.
In April, 25 states reported rainfall with average acidity, or pH readings of 5.0 or below. In Virginia and four other states, readings were 4.0 or below in April, Audubon's Citizen Acid Rain Monitoring Network reported. The lower the reading, the more acidic the rainfall.
Audubon checked rainfall at five Virginia sites and found an average acidity of 4.0, the group's report said.
Although scientists differ on the pH of unpolluted rain, readings of less than 5.0 are generally considered polluted, Audubon's and other experts said.
The other states with readings 4.0 or below were Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to Audubon.
Virginia's annual average acidity has ranged from 4.1 to 4.3 in recent years, state Department of Air Pollution Control meteorologist Dan Salkovitz said Wednesday. Readings fluctuate by season, with greater acidity in the warmer months, Salkovitz said.
"Readings [below 4.0] are not surprising. Rain in Virginia can be as acidic as anywhere in the eastern United States," he said. Salkovitz's office checks up on acid rain at eight sites around the state weekly.
Salkovitz said while Audubon's monitoring methods are "somewhat subjective," the group's results generally coincide with what the state program finds.
"In Virginia the situation is this: The soil, which has acted as a buffer to serious acid rain damage, is losing its ability to do that. As the soil loses that ability, we see greater pollution of streams," and eventually damage to forests, Salkovitz said.
Salkovitz said his efforts and studies conducted by the University of Virginia show streams in the western half of the state have received the state's worst acid rain damage.
by CNB