The Gold River Watershed Acid Rain Mitigation Plan: Development of a sub-plan to address the aluminum problem.

Ionic aluminium (Ali) is toxic to Salmo salar and is known to be a key cause of population declines. Increases in ionic aluminium are a direct result of acid rain pollution.  A major problem is that the mitigation activities for acid rain, instream and catchment liming, may not address the threat of aluminium, or indeed may worsen it if not done properly.  This problem can be avoided by mapping where in the watershed the aluminum levels are the highest, and where the pH is below 4.8, and targeting the liming activities in particular sub-basins, or choosing whole-catchment liming rather than riparian zone liming.  We will create a sub-plan for the Gold River Acid Rain Mitigation Plan that will address the aluminium problem.

Contact: Dr. Shannon Sterling, 902-494-7741, Shannon.sterling@dal.ca