Pollution Watchdog Waiting For More Acid Rain Data

Pollution Watchdog Waiting For More Acid Rain Data

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 13:22

The head of Saskatchewan’s environment protection branch says there is no indication the acidity in northern lakes has increased to critical levels.

Lynn Gallagher says the province has been monitoring the impact of acid rain caused by Alberta’s oilsands for a few years now.

However, Gallagher notes the government has no indication so far that the changing acidity levels in northern lakes are impacting fish populations or jeopardizing human health.

She says, according to the data gathered so far, concentrations of acid in northern lakes have not exceeded the recommended maximum.

According to a recent report, as much as 70 per cent of the emissions from Alberta’s oilsands end up in northern Saskatchewan.

Gallagher says it will be next year at earliest before she gets a better sense of what Alberta’s oil sands are doing to northern lakes and rivers.

She says another year of field work is needed to see how serious the acid rain problem is.