The Hunter Region (Australia) Acid Rain Project

Abstract

Field measurements for the Hunter Region Acid Rain Project were conducted as a major cooperative effort by the New South Wales State Pollution Control Commission, the Electricity Commission of New South Wales, and the University of Newcastle in Australia. Rainfall collection using open and event-activated collectors at 32 sites occurred for 44 events between October 1984 and March 1986, providing the most detailed acid-rain data base available for an Australian region. The structure and organization of the project are described and results of the pH measurements, which indicate volume-weighted pH averages between 4.9 and 5.6, depending on season and type of gauge, are presented-pH values less than 5.0 were measured 37.3 percent of the time in the event-activated rainfall samples. The pH results indicate rainwater acidity in the Hunter Region is similar to that of remote areas of the world.

Fog and rainwater composition in rural SE Australia

“…Research has been carried out in the Northern Territory (Galloway et al, 1982;Keene et al, 1983;Likens et aL, 1987;Noller et aL, 1990;Gillett et aL, 1990), Cape Grim, Tasmania Ivey, 1988, 1990), the Latrobe Valley, Victoria (Fitzgerald, 1986), Sydney, New South Wales (Ayers and Gillett, 1984;Ayers et al, 1987), and the Hunter Valley, New South Wales (Avery, 1984;Pang Way and Rothwell, 1986;Bridgman et al, 1988). A review of acid rain studies in Australia was carried out by Bridgman (1989).…”

Rainwater Harvesting Systems in Australia

“…Duncan (1999) analysed values from around the world, which could have brought the mean result down due to acid rain in the Northern Hemisphere. Bridgman et al (1989;1988) indicated that severity of acid rain in Australia and New Zealand is significantly lower than other parts of the world, which could explain the higher readings in the Western Sydney study and by Thomas and Greene (1993) in comparison to Duncan (1999).…”