Acid Rain Changes Water

Typical rainwater has a pH of between 5 and 6. That it the naturally neutral, slightly acidic state of this important liquid to our lives. During precipitation rainwater dissolves gasses such as carbon dioxide and oxygen. Industries world wide now emit tremendous amounts of acidifying gasses, such as sulfuric oxides and carbon monoxide, that also dissolve in the rainwater that eventually supplies our drinking water. The resulting changes in pH of the rainwater can cause the pH to dip below 4. Alarmingly, when a substance has a pH of below 6.5, it is commonly classified as an acid. Thus, when this phenomena was discovered when industrial emissions became tracked and quantified, such water was acid rain.