Will acid rain remain a problem after the Canadian and U.S. control programs are fully implemented?
Yes. Areas of southern and central Ontario, southern and central Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia will continue to receive mean annual sulphate deposition amounts that exceed their critical loads. The critical load will be exceeded by up to 10 kg/ha/yr of wet sulphate in parts of central and southern Quebec. As a result, about 95,000 lakes will remain damaged by acid rain. Lakes in these areas have not responded to reductions in sulphate deposition as well as, or as rapidly as, those in less sensitive regions. In fact, some sensitive lakes continue to acidify. Even in 2010, with full implementation of the Canadian and U.S. programs, almost 800,000 km2 in southeastern Canadaan area the size of France and the United Kingdom combinedwill receive harmful levels of acid rain; that is, levels well above critical load limits for aquatic systems.
