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Trends in Surface Water Chemistry in Acidified Areas in Europe and North America from 1990 to 2008

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Abstract

Acidification of lakes and rivers is still an environmental concern despite reduced emissions of acidifying compounds. We analysed trends in surface water chemistry of 173 acid-sensitive sites from 12 regions in Europe and North America. In 11 of 12 regions, non-marine sulphate (SO4*) declined significantly between 1990 and 2008 (−15 to −59 %). In contrast, regional and temporal trends in nitrate were smaller and less uniform. In 11 of 12 regions, chemical recovery was demonstrated in the form of positive trends in pH and/or alkalinity and/or acid neutralising capacity (ANC). The positive trends in these indicators of chemical recovery were regionally and temporally less distinct than the decline in SO4* and tended to flatten after 1999. From an ecological perspective, the chemical quality of surface waters in acid-sensitive areas in these regions has clearly improved as a consequence of emission abatement strategies, paving the way for some biological recovery.

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Acknowledgement

We are grateful to all Focal centres that submit data to the ICP Waters programme centre, making large regional assessments of the environmental state of nutrient poor, acid-sensitive lakes, and rivers possible. We also thank the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Trust fund under UNECE for economic support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Sandvikavegen 59, N-2312, Ottestad, Norway

    Øyvind A. Garmo

  2. Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Oslo, Norway

    Brit Lisa Skjelkvåle, Heleen A. de Wit & Tore Høgåsen

  3. University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland, Canobbio, Switzerland

    Luca Colombo

  4. GAES, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Chris Curtis

  5. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Jens Fölster

  6. Umweltbundesamt, Dessau, Germany

    Andreas Hoffmann

  7. Czech Geological Survey, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jakub Hruška, Pavel Krám & Vladimir Majer

  8. Global Change Research Centre, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno, Czech Republic

    Jakub Hruška

  9. Environment Canada, Burlington, ON, Canada

    Dean S. Jeffries

  10. Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    W. Bill Keller

  11. NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster, United Kingdom

    Don T. Monteith

  12. Ontario Ministry of Environment, Dorset, ON, Canada

    Andrew M. Paterson

  13. CNR Institute of Ecosystem Study, Verbania Pallanza, Italy

    Michela Rogora

  14. Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, Katowice, Poland

    Dorota Rzychon & Adam Worsztynowicz

  15. Ufficio aria, clima e energie rinnovabili, Bellinzona, Switzerland

    Sandra Steingruber

  16. US Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR, USA

    John L. Stoddard

  17. Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    Jussi Vuorenmaa

Authors
  1. Øyvind A. Garmo
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  2. Brit Lisa Skjelkvåle
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  3. Heleen A. de Wit
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  4. Luca Colombo
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  5. Chris Curtis
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  6. Jens Fölster
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  7. Andreas Hoffmann
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  8. Jakub Hruška
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  9. Tore Høgåsen
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  10. Dean S. Jeffries
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  11. W. Bill Keller
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  12. Pavel Krám
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  13. Vladimir Majer
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  14. Don T. Monteith
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  15. Andrew M. Paterson
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  16. Michela Rogora
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  17. Dorota Rzychon
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  18. Sandra Steingruber
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  19. John L. Stoddard
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  20. Jussi Vuorenmaa
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  21. Adam Worsztynowicz
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Correspondence to Øyvind A. Garmo.

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Garmo, Ø.A., Skjelkvåle, B.L., de Wit, H.A. et al. Trends in Surface Water Chemistry in Acidified Areas in Europe and North America from 1990 to 2008. Water Air Soil Pollut 225, 1880 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-1880-6

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