What Goes Up Must Come Down!
What's up, Forsyth? Remember—what's "up" must also come down, which is fitting for this blog post on the links between air and water quality. What Goes Up Must Come Down: How Today’s Air Pollution Becomes Tomorrow's Water Pollution When we burn fossil fuels in our vehicles, gas-powered equipment, power plants, or factories, they emit nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sometimes (depending on the type of fuel used) sulfur dioxide (SO2) . These gases pollute the air and cause problems for human health, and they also harm our environment. Specifically, many of our water quality issues, including freshwater acidification and eutrophication , can result from emissions of air pollutants. Essentially, the air pollution we create today can become a major source of water quality issues tomorrow. In North Carolina, on-road mobile sources (cars and trucks) are t he biggest contributors to NOx ; whereas, electric generating units (EGUs), more commonly known as power plants, are ...