BEIJING — Acid rain caused by sulphur dioxide spewed from factories and power plants affected a third of China's vast land mass last year, posing a threat to food safety, Xinhua news agency said citing a parliamentary report.
More than half of the 696 cities and counties monitored had suffered acid rain, in some cases on a daily basis, according to a pollution inspection report submitted to the standing committee of parliament, the official agency said.
"Increased sulphur dioxide emissions meant that one third of China's territory was affected by acid rain, posing a major threat to soil and food safety," Xinhua cited NPC standing committee vice chairman Sheng Huaren as saying.
Discharge of sulphur dioxide in booming China rose by 27 percent between 2000 and 2005 to 25 million tonnes, making the country the world's top emitter of the pollutant.
Sheng told lawmakers that China's sulphur dioxide emissions, caused largely by coal-burning power stations and coking plants, were double the acceptable environmental limit.
According to the report's findings, nearly 650 out of 680 coking plants in Shanxi, the country's main coal-mining province, discharged excessive sulphur dioxide, Xinhua said.
Air pollution, caused mainly by sulphur dioxide and particulate matter, was affecting some 40 percent of Chinese cities, Sheng said.
China has pledged to install desulphurisation facilities in coal-burning power plants and is planning pilot emissions trading schemes to help improve air quality.
The capital, Beijing, has promised to replace its notorious smog with clear skies in time for the 2008 Olympics.
In the same parliamentary report, Sheng also lifted the lid on false reporting of solid waste discharge levels by local governments and companies.
Actual levels of toxic chromium waste in China could be as high as five million tons instead of the 4.1 million reflected in official figures, Xinhua cited the report as saying.
"Many firms report a lower figure for chromium waste for fear of being punished," Sheng said.
One locality had originally reported that it had 3,000 tons of chromium waste but raised the figure to 100,000 tons after learning the government would build reprocessing facilities for them instead of fining them, he said.

ALBANY, N.Y. — A crystalline Adirondack lake once held up as an example of a "dead" lake devastated by acid rain has now become a symbol of nature's ability to heal itself once pollutants are curbed.

As the name implies, Brooktrout Lake teemed with trout before air pollution from faraway cities began to change the chemistry of lakes and soils in the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park. In 1984, biologists found that Brooktrout Lake and hundreds of others in the rugged region were completely devoid of fish.
Now there are signs of recovery. After the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990 tightened emissions limits on Midwest coal-burning power plants, acid rain decreased significantly. As expected, the pH levels of Adirondack lakes began to rise, becoming less acidic. The surprising thing was how fast it happened.
"Nobody predicted Brooktrout Lake would come around as fast as it has," said Clifford Siegfried, director of the New York State Museum and a freshwater ecologist who has studied Adirondack lakes since 1984. "Most predictions were for decades of recovery."
Last fall, biologists stocked Brooktrout Lake with 20 adult trout and 2,000 fingerling trout. It was the first time a once-dead Adirondack lake had been restocked with fish after improving enough to sustain fish.
The stocking isn't for the benefit of anglers, but scientists.
"This is a whole lake experiment, an ecological experiment of the highest order," said Charles Boylen, a biologist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Darrin Fresh Water Institute. He has studied Adirondack lakes since 1994 under a $7 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.
"This is a great opportunity to see how nature deals with this phenomenon of acid recovery," he said.
This spring, researchers returned with sonar equipment to see how the fish fared after the snowmelt flooded the lake with a winter's worth of acid deposits. The fish survived. "We're all primed for a productive season," Boylen said.
The researchers will visit the lake every few weeks to observe the fish to see if they reproduce and grow. And they'll monitor the entire ecosystem of the lake to document changes in plankton, algae, plants, insects, loons, salamanders and other species as the natural balance returns.
For ecologists, it will be interesting to watch what happens to the naturally recovering flora and fauna with the introduction of trout, Siegfried said. "These communities have adapted to having no fish for several decades. The top predator is the midge larva," a wriggler the size of an eyelash. "These are nice juicy morsels for trout. They'll likely wipe out that population."
Scientists also will be watching the behavior of a pair of loons that have been nesting on the lake for years. In the past, they've had to go to another lake to feed. Now they'll find trout right at home. "We'll see how that affects fish survival," Siegfried said. "They can eat 1,500 fish annually."
Sampling must be done numerous times over the course of each year because the lake changes significantly from week to week. The acid level is affected by precipitation and temperature, and the abundance of certain organisms rises and falls over short periods.
Collecting samples isn't easy. The trail to Brooktrout Lake is six miles long, and equipment has to be carried in. A state helicopter is sometimes used to make the job easier.
The recovery of Brooktrout Lake may be short-lived, however. Tim Sullivan of E & S Environmental Chemistry in Corvallis, Ore., was contracted by New York state to develop mathematical models that predict what will happen in response to various levels of air pollutant emissions. The outlook isn't good.
"While there has been a substantial decrease in acid deposition, the improvement in lake chemistry has been relatively small," Sullivan said. "If we continue to operate under existing emissions regulations, the lakes that have been recovering will stop recovering and will start to get worse again over the next couple of decades. For some lakes, it will be worse than it ever has been."
That's because soils in the Adirondacks, particularly at higher elevations, have been depleted of calcium and other acid-neutralizing minerals, weakening their ability to serve as a buffer against acid rain, Sullivan said.
To prevent reacidification of the region's most sensitive lakes, such as Brooktrout, further emission controls are needed, he said.
"Recovery is a dangerous word in the hands of politicians. They think the job is done," Boylen said. "But even with more stringent regulations, there's still more consumption of fossil fuels than in years past. If we don't learn to conserve our energy consumption or rely on sources other than fossil fuels, the societal demands will continue to put more and more emissions into the atmosphere."

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — Drainage from land disturbed by mining and road construction has caused acid levels to rise beyond acceptable levels in portions of at least 35 streams across the state, killing fish and insects.
That finding is part of a report by the Kentucky Division of Water, which is trying to prevent the acid drainage so that the streams might once again support aquatic life.
Acid drainage is especially of concern in areas where coal and shale have been unearthed, said Andrea M. Fredenburg, environmental control supervisor in the Division of Water.
"When those layers are exposed to water, we get the problem," she said.
Most of the streams with high acid levels are in the coalfields. For example, seven streams in McCreary County in southeastern Kentucky have been affected as have five streams in Muhlenberg County. The list is expected to grow when acid levels are tested in streams in the Big Sandy River watershed, where coal mining is widespread.
Other counties that had streams on the impacted list were Bell, Clay, Hancock, Harlan, Hopkins, Knox, Letcher, Marion, McLean, Ohio and Pulaski.
Maleva Chamberlain, spokeswoman for the Division of Water, said the list of streams is part of a water quality report that is sent to Congress every two years as required by the federal Clean Water Act.
All streams deemed unfit for fishing or swimming because of pollution are included in the report. In Kentucky, the most common reason streams make the list is because of high concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria, which comes from animal and human waste.
In eastern Kentucky, authorities blame the high bacteria concentration on so-called straight pipes, used by some people to flush commodes directly into streams without the benefit of septic tanks and sewage treatment plants.
Chamberlain said the Division of Water doesn't stop after determining that a stream is polluted, whether by bacteria or acid drainage.
"We looked at where it is coming from, and now we look at how we are going to stop it," she said.

Dear EarthTalk: What is "acid rain" and what causes it? -- Jeff Ohmberger, Lincoln, NE
"Acid rain," also known as acid precipitation and acid deposition, is a broad term used to describe the nitric and sulfuric acids that fall to Earth during rain, snow or fog. These chemicals form in our atmosphere to begin with when pollutants released into the air through the burning of fossil fuels blend with other substances, including water vapor. When it storms, these substances return to the Earth s surface where they get into rivers, streams and groundwater, literally making these waters more acidic.
This acidity, in turn, damages trees and other plant life and makes it difficult for wildlife--especially aquatic life--to thrive and reproduce. The consequences of acid rain can also be seen in the cracks and discoloration on some building surfaces and on the smoothed and faded facial features on outdoor statues.
Emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) are primarily to blame. While volcanoes and other natural sources produce these chemicals, too, as much as 95 percent of the SO2 and NOx emitted in North America comes from industrial sources and the tailpipes of cars and trucks.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency s (EPA) Acid Rain Program, the highest concentrations of acid rain in the U.S. are in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Prevailing winds move large masses of pollutants there from the smokestacks of the many coal-fired and other kinds of power plants dotting the banks of the Ohio River.
Meanwhile, the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), which monitors the chemistry of precipitation at some 200 locations around the United States, reports high levels of acid rain throughout the entire Northeast, extending from Indiana all the way to the Atlantic coast. NADP s website features interactive maps detailing acid rain concentrations nationwide.
During the 1980s, public outcry over acid rain resulted in Congress amending the Clean Air Act to impose limits on industrial emissions of SO2 and NOx. While the regulations have helped, many environmentalists think more needs to be done in order to protect plants, wildlife and water throughout the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada. A growing body of evidence shows that without significant additional cuts in acid rain-forming emissions, many of the problems associated with acid rain will persist for many decades, says Ellen Baum, ecosystem expert at the Boston-based nonprofit organization, Clean Air Task Force.
Since the burning of fossil fuels accounts for most of the troublesome SO2 and NOx emissions, individuals can make a difference by reducing their energy consumption at home and by driving fewer miles in their internal combustion vehicles. Businesses can take similar steps by increasing energy efficiency at the workplace and encouraging employees to carpool or take public transit.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Scientists plan to study soil this spring in high elevations of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park -- the area most affected by acid rain and other environmental problems, officials say.
The Smokies' suffer from some of the worst acid rain problems in the U.S., especially after major rains or snow melts when streams and rainwater in the higher elevations become more acidic than normal.
Acid rain results when sulfur and nitrogen byproducts from fossil fuel-burning plants, industries and motorized vehicles combine with water vapor to form weak acid.
The study will target sites examined by the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1980s, enabling scientists to see how the soils have changed.
"We have been studying the effects of acid deposition on streams, and now we're looking at soils," said Michael Jenkins, a forest ecologist for the Smokies. "We're filling in another piece of the puzzle."
To study the soil, scientists will dig down to the bedrock at four high-elevation sites located on the Tennessee and North Carolina sides of the 500,000-acre park.
The four sites are above 4,000 feet where acid rain and polluted cloud water cause some of the worst acid deposition problems, which the park began monitoring more than 20 years ago.
"Changes in the soil chemistry have a cascading effect that impacts the plants and trees -- and ultimately the animals that rely on them," Jenkins said.