Student Number: 1595137

The Chemical and Biological Restoration of Acidified Streams

Sudden drop in fish population in Scandinavian lakes in the 1970s was found out
to be caused by lower pH due to acid deposition (UKAWMN,2001)(Bradley and
Ormerod, 2002). Similar events also took place in UK and US streams thus some
angling lobbyists in those countries called for their respective governments to
find ways to restore fish populations which eventually became the start of
present and on-going, chemical and biological, restoration of acidified streams
(Howells and Brown, 1992).

This essay will discuss about chemical restoration, particularly liming, and the
subsequent biological restoration of acidified rivers; its impact and effectiveness.

Acid deposition adversely impacts the natural stream ecosystem. Short-term acid
episodes or long-term acidification directly affects acid-sensitive invertebrates,
snails, crayfish, clams and freshwater shrimps (kland and kland, 1986) (Muniz,
1990) (Ormerod, 2005). Acidification has been found as the main culprit for the
loss of fish in significant parts of Norway and Sweden (Howells and Brown, 1992)
(Muniz, 1990). Acid waters release toxic amount of Al 3+ which damages internal
organs of fishes and negatively affecting fish eggs and fries (Rosseland and
Henriksen, 1990).

It is of high significance to determine the causes of stream acidification before

introducing restoration solutions. Atmospheric deposition or acid rain is one of
the prime cause of freshwater acidification (Gee and Stoner, 1989)(Driscoll et al.,
2001). The main acidifying substances are the sulphur and nitrogen oxides (SOx
and NOx), and ammonia, derived mostly from commercial agriculture (UKAWMN,
2001) (Driscoll et al., 2001). SOx and NOx may come from natural sources like
volcanoes, oceans, biological decay, lightning and forest fires; and anthropogenic
sources like burned coal and petroleum fuels (UKAWMN, 2001) (EPA, 2016). Acid
deposition can be classified as dry deposition of air pollutants or wet
deposition of sulphuric and nitric acids. Improper disposal of waste such as acid
mine drainage also lowers pH levels in rivers. Although acid deposition is a
major factor in aquatic acidification it can still be mitigated if there is a high
buffering system by the vegetation and soil (Gee and Stoner, 1989). Livestock
introduction to river catchment also lowers river pH by adding large amounts of
nitrates through urine to the soil which then reacts to produce nitric acid that is
later leached to the water systems (Martins et al., 2014). Aside from acid
deposition, buffering and livestock introduction, afforestation due to conifers also
lowers river since forest canopies to capture more sulphur and nitrogen
pollutants from the atmosphere than shorter types of vegetation which is then
released to the soil through plant-soil interactions (Department of the
Environment, 1991 as cited by Forestry Commisssion, 2014)

Restoration, in freshwater systems, is defined by Roni and Beechie (2013) as a

return of an aquatic system or habitat to its original or undisturbed state. One
of the earlier acid restoration projects were done on Scandinavian lakes (Howells
and Brown, 1992) (UKAWMN, 2001).

Minimizing SOx and NOx emission are one of the major solutions to mitigating
acidification (Hildrew and Ormerod, 1995) (Gee and Stoner, 1989). Another
solution also is proper land-use. Afforestation of catchment with conifers lowers
soil pH. Tree planting can enhance acidification by the scavenging of acid
Student Number: 1595137

deposition, base cation uptake, the scavenging and concentration of sea salts,
soil drying and the formation of an acid litter layer at the soil surface (Forestry
Commission, 2014).

Aside from the abovementioned solutions, a short-term method is the direct

chemical restoration of streams by spreading calcium carbonate (liming) of
catchment or lakes. It has already been used operationally in the UK particularly
in the Llyn Brianne catchments and in Scandinavia (UKAWMN, 2001) (Howells, G.
and Brown, D. 1992). The most common liming material is ground limestone
(Clair and Hindar, 2005). Lake liming, wherein liming agent is directly dumped to
the lake to increase pH of the lake and its outlet streams, has been done ever
since the early reports of freshwater acidification in Scandinavia (Norwegian
Environment Agency, 2016). On the other hand, catchment liming has
demonstrated to be effective in reducing Al 3+ in catchment soils (Clair and
Hindar, 2005). Mant et al. (2013) suggested that liming might be advocated by
the European Union (EU) due to the Water Framework Directive requiring
member nations to reach or maintain good ecological status of their surface
waters. Nevertheless, liming has both its advantages and disadvantages.

The biological recovery of an acidified river is always preceded by chemical

recovery (Driscoll et al., 2001). Increasing stream pH to circumneutral levels is
expected to increase stream biodiversity to its original or near-original state
(Howells, G. and Brown, D., 1992)

Though liming has been found to decrease catchment streams and lakes in UK
and Norway (>>>)the mixing zone that occurs where an acidic tributary enters a
limed river can be highly toxic to the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) and brown
trout (Salmo trutta L.) in the limed River Audna, southern Norway (tland and
Barlaup, 1995). Acid episodes may contribute to slow biological recovery. Some
stream diatoms are highly sensitive to short-term acidification (Hirst et al., 2004)
as well insects. . This is supported by Lepori and Ormerod (2005) wherein they
observed that the spring distribution of Baetis alpinus in acid sensitive parts of
the Alps directly reflects the toxicity of acid runoff during snowmelt. The study
also demonstrated that even mild episodic acidification can have significant
impact in Alpine streams for highly acid-sensitive insects like the B. alpinus.
Previously held belief that only limited dispersal hinders biological recovery from
acidification was refuted by a study in the Llyne Brianne by Masters et al.(2007).
The study states that aside from insect mating behaviour, acid episodes are also
involved in the delayed macroinvertebrate increase in limed catchments.

Acid episodes sometimes occur due to base cation dilution to precipitation, sea
salt inputs and NO3- pulses as was observed in Afon Gwy (Evans et al., 2008b). A
related study by Evans et al (2008a) showed that although sulphur
concentrations have declined, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) have increased
which resulted in increased organic acidity thus offsetting the benefits of a
decrease in mineral (sulphate) acidity.

Between 1989 and 1998, UKAWMN reported a slow decline in sulphate

concentrations in some catchments in Wales and England despite the significant
reduction of sulphur oxides in the UK. UKAWMN (2001) attributed this to
catchments releasing stored sulphate, which has accumulated within them over
the past 150 years. Climatic changes like droughts may cause previously inert
sulphur compounds, stored deep in catchment soils, to re-oxidise as sulphate
Student Number: 1595137

which subsequently increase sulphate concentration temporarily once rain

returns (UKAWMN, 2001)

There is also uncertainty about how the acidified stream recovery process will be
influenced by future nitrogen deposition and anthropogenic climate change
(Forestry Commission, 2014).

Conclusion and recommendation

Chemical and biological restoration of acidified streams just like any restoration
projects are not straightforward. This is due to the fact that there are several
aspects needed to be considered like acid episodes, land-use management,
disturbance caused by restoration, climate and other abiotic factors (Ormerod,
2004) aside from biotic factors such as dispersal (Petersen et al., 2004),
colonisation, competition, (Frame, 2009) (Berger 2006).

Freshwater-umbrella.defra.gov.uk, (2016). Freshwater Umbrella :: Surface Water

Acidification. [online] Available at: http://freshwater-
umbrella.defra.gov.uk/air_pollution/surface_water_acidification.php [Accessed 10
Jan. 2016].

Several factors affect acidity:

Natural:

1. Action of atmospheric carbonic acids.

2. Formation of organic acids by humus podzolisation.
3. Podzolisation.

Land-use changes:

4. Livestock introduction into the catchment.

5. Use of nitrogen fertiliser.
6. Increased efficiency of drainage.
7. Dry deposition of air pollutants.
8. Wet deposition of sulphuric and nitric acids.

It will be a combination of the above factors that will lead to freshwater

acidification. Natural acidification has been taking place since the last ice age,
although the recent rapid acidification of many of the lakes can not be attributed
to natural causes.

Restoration of Acid Waters

The only sure way to prevent further acidification of other susceptible water
bodies is to reduce the emissions of acid pollutants. There is a relationship
between sulphur emissions, deposition, sulphur in run-off and loss of alkalinity. If
acidification of soils and freshwaters is to be prevented then sulphur deposition
rates need to be reduced further. The technical means are available to reduce
Student Number: 1595137

emissions, such as flue gas desulphurisation, low NOx burners, use of low
sulphur coal and oil and increasing energy efficiency. At present the main way of
reversing acidification in freshwaters is liming the water body or its surrounding
catchment. The main liming method is to add the lime directly to the water body.
However in the cases of certain lakes where the turnaround is very quick, the
lime is added to the catchment. This has disadvantages though, the main one
being that the lime can have an adverse effect on wetland species of plants. The
advantages, however, are that the effects are longer lasting and metals are
prevented from leaching into the lake water from the soil. The effects of liming
are almost entirely favourable within the lake. The alkalinity of the limed lake is
increased, the pH increased and heavy metal concentrations decrease back to
within safe limits for fish life. The number of species of fish, benthic animals and
plankton increases as does biomass production.

Summary

Freshwater acidification occurs in areas of high sulphur deposition and where

soils are derived from granite or other rocks resistant to weathering. The
magnitude of acidification in the last 150 years is a lot greater that in the last
100,000 years. It seems that atmospheric pollution is the major cause of
acidification. There is evidence that in the past decade there has been a
significant decrease in the acidity of rain and this is reflected by a small decline
in acidity of some lakes.
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