Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 15 March 2010

Anthony Turton vice-president of the International Water Resource Association, explains why sulphur pollution is a bigger problem than carbon emissions.

The Olifants River draining Mpumalanga is collapsing, specifically because of acidification.

We have recently emerged from negotiations at Copenhagen that focused on greenhouse-gas emissions. Most greenhouse gases are derivatives of carbon and much is said about carbon in the context of global climate change.

What is left out of this discussion is sulphur, which, in my professional opinion, is far more important to the immediate and short-term future of the South African economy than carbon will ever be.

Sulphur is relevant in South Africa in two important manifestations. Atmospheric sulphur, in the form of sulphur dioxide, combines with moisture in clouds and falls to earth as acid rain. Aquatic sulphur, in the form of sulphate salt, combines with water in underground mine voids and produces sulphuric acid, which in turn manifests as acid mine drainage (AMD). Continue reading Acid rain more important than carbon emissions