PUNE: Pollution is causing ‘life-giving’ rain to become increasingly acidic in many parts of the country, particularly in the last decade, research by India Meteorological Department and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology has revealed.
Analysis of rainwater samples from Nagpur, Mohanbari (in Assam), Allahabad, Visakhapatnam and Kodaikanal in the decade 2001-2012 showed a pH level varying from 4.77 to 5.32, indicating that these places have actually been receiving ‘acid rain’.
Rainwater with pH below 5.65 is considered acidic. Potential of hydrogen, or pH, is a scale to measure acidity or alkalinity of a solution, where 7 is ‘neutral’. For lesser values, acidity increases with decreasing count. Acid rain is a result of rain water in the atmosphere mixing with polluting gases such as oxides of sulphur and nitrogen emitted from power plants, automobiles and some industrial units.
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