Does Acidification Policy Follow Research in Northern Sweden? The Case of Natural Acidity During the 1990’s

The situation in northern Sweden did not figure prominently in the intense period of research during the 1980’s that laid the basis for many acidification-related policies now in effect in Europe and Sweden. Northern Sweden has not only relatively low acid deposition levels and significant sources of natural acidity, but also intense episodes of pH decline during spring flood that are a major focus of liming activity. Controversy over that liming and natural acidity has led to scientific advances. These include discovery of a correlation between sulfur in snow and the anthropogenic contribution to the subsequent spring flood ANC decline, but also that natural organic acidity is responsible for most of the spring pH decline in the region. This paper compares the developments in liming policy with the scientific developments of relevance to the region during the last decade. Considerable discrepancies are noted which create opportunities for revising remediation policies to better reflect the state of knowledge in 2000.