Close to Home

Reading an article in the newspaper, I was surprised to find that acid rain has decimated the salmon in our southern uplands rivers, and has even killed off the stocks in 25 of these rivers. The total population has been decreased by three quarters!
The Nova Scotia Salmon Association is fighting to stop this decimation by adding tonnes of alkaline lime to the waters to neutralize the acid. This has so far made the rivers more hospitable, but as yet there is not solid evidence that it is making enough of a difference for the fish.
The acid rain comes mostly from the industrial emissions of central Canada. The rain really affects our rivers as the soils in the area have little to no capacity for holding or neutralizing the acid. This means that most of the acid is allowed to leach into the rivers. The problem got so bad, and so there were talks to limit the amount of emissions that could be allowed. But still, we see the effects of the rain, even if there is just a little.
If the rivers were left aone, and no more acid rain was able to leach into them, then the rivers would take up to 100 years to get back to normal. So the limestone is being added continually, despite the huge costs of these operations. Hopefully, it will make enough of a difference soon, so we will not lose the entire stock of salmon.