A CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENTIFIC AND LEGAL PERSPECTIVE OF ACID PRECIPITATION AND ITS IMPACTS: A REVIEW

Prashant Mehta
Page No. 54-75

Over the past decade, acid precipitation (acidification of rain water) has been transformed from a
relatively unobserved area of scientific inquiry into a serious environmental problem of
transboundary nature. Alternatively it has become a major regional, national, and international
issue of concern. A large variety of chemical wastes such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides (which
produce acid rain), ammonia, ozone, metals, and hydrocarbons are added to our atmosphere from
numerous human activities like burning of fossil fuels. Some of these emitted chemical wastes have
breached sustainable concentrations levels in industrialized and urbanized regions of the globe
resulting in ecological crisis of high order. The problem of acid rain is perhaps one of the main
environmental and debatable issues facing the community of people not only of the industrialized
nations but also the fast developing economies of the world. In this research paper I am presenting
a balanced approach to understand wide array of opinions on the current state of knowledge in
acid precipitation research with respect to examination source of acid rain, its advantages,
disadvantages, atmospheric processes, environmental effects, measurement procedure, legal, and
political perspectives surrounding the acid precipitation. This study attempts to decode acid
precipitation, its Indian context, its comparison with international laws, and its impacts on
humanity.
Key words: Acid rain, Environment Pollution, Sustainability, Precipitation, Sulphur Oxide,
Nitrogen Oxides, pH