1. What can you learn from looking at these two graphs?

I can see that the pH in Alligator Creek in Sarasota County, between 8 and 7 and
the tendency is reduction through time.

2. What is the overall trend of pH in Alligator Creek in Sarasota County during the
entire time period? Is it different from the October graph? Why or why not?

The overall trend is the diminishing in Ph this can be seen in the first graph from
the website and it is not different from the October graph since this month is also
part of this trend.

3. How can humans impact the pH levels of Alligator Stream/River?

We can start by creating more regulation that can impact the level of pollution in
the air, this way the main components of acidic rain will diminish leading to a
cleaner atmosphere and less acidic rain. The main culprits of acidic rain are
industries that burn fossil fuels so these need to be specially looked after.

4. What are some possible acid rain pollutants near you?

Nitric acid since I live in a city with one of the worst traffic rats in South America,
petrol engines and carbon monoxide trapped in the humidity of Lima causes acid
rain specially in winter season.

5. What laws or regulations control acid rain pollution?

The National atmospheric Deposition Program and The Clean Air Status and
Trends Network (CASTNET) measure both types of acid depositions. The first
one Measures wet depositions like rain, snow and smog and CASTNET
measures dry depositions such as acidic gases and particles.

6. What local industries might be contributing to the acid rain? What evidence do
you have to prove this?

Since sulfur dioxide is one of the main culprits of Acid rain, we can assume that a
large part of the emissions of that gas can be attributed to the coal industry. Also,
nitrogen oxides produced by petrol engines and from electric power generation
that burs fossil fuels are a big part of the causes of acid rain.

7. If you live in an urban region with a high concentration of industry in all directions,
what next steps might you take to pinpoint the source of acid rain?

You should look for which of these industries use fossil fuels to operate, since the
burning of this material creates the main chemical components that react on the
environment creating acid rain. We should be especially careful with energy
plants and large concentrations of vehicles.
 8. How does the idea of acid rain fit within the discussion of environmental science
and sustainability?

Acid rain is a very toxic type of rain for some living creatures such as plants, the
chemicals from acid rain settle in the soil and plants absorb them, after the
absorption the acidic Ph of these water kills the plant. As we learned in one of the
videos, acidic Ph is not suitable for living organism and they cannot develop in
these conditions, so we should be more aware of the pollution we generate, we
could be slowly killing our planet.

Table 1: Ph and its trend in Alligator Creek during 10/17/2006

Table 2: Overall trend of pH in alligator creek 2005-2006