Concerns about tackling the menace of acid rain grows in Japan
IN JAPAN, elementary school magazines
have been selling particularly well
recently due to the mini easy-to-use acid
rain measuring kits attached to the
inside of the magazines' back cover. A
chemical is placed in a small plastic container. When acid rain falls on it, the
color changes, and from this the acidity
content in the rain can be read.
Readers send back these figures to
the publishers. In 1994 summer, some
51,000 observations were returned, and
this year almost the same number have
been returned by elementary schoo)goers, Based on these results, a national
acid rain intensity map is likely to be
charted.
Acid rain has been frequent in Japan
as it had been in Northern Europe and
North America, and now it has become
just as noticeable. Should it continue, its
influence may well become widespread
as may concerns about it.
Japan's Environment Agency has
established a national monitoring network. Records from 1994 show that the
Ph (acidity or alkalinity of a
solution/soil expressed numerically) in
rainfall in 28 places averaged 4.8 with
acidic rainfalls reported in both urban
and rural areas ranging between Ph 4.5
-to 5.8. The situation has remained constant for 10 years.
J. Acid deposition has degraded lakes,
swamps and wetlands to such an extent
that organisms cannot thrive in northern European waters. According to an
Environment Agency survey, almost all
rivers, lakes and marshes in Japan have a
Ph of around 7.0, but some with low Ph
levels were also found.
The Japanese government has recognized that deterioration, drying and
death of greenery has occurred nationwide, and in 1994, the Agency said it
could not deny that acid rain was
responsible for this situation. This was
the first time the government has officially recognized these adverse environ-
mental impacts.
In 1958, factories of the Yokkaichi
industrial complex in central Japan,
generated air pollution due to S04 resurting in decreased harvests of wet rice. In
other words, air pollution had a negative impact on vegetation, and in 1961,
many people developed breathing difficulties and other- health problems.
Tetsuro Taniyarna of Mie University
reported that an S04 concentration of
0.02 per cent per month would have a
negative impact on vegetation growth.
Winter winds blow from Asia eastward over the adjacent seas and lands so
that so2 emissions from China and the
Korean Peninsula are carried across the
Sea of Japan to Japan, Japan's close
neighbour China alone produces
2,000,000 torme/year of so, today.
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