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The Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation determined that 27 percent of all 2,800 lakes and
ponds in the Park remain at a pH of less than 5.0 all year. The slide shows that few species
can live in a pH lower than 5.5; rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, fathead minnow, clam, snail
and mayfly cannot survive in a pH lower than 5.5. The clam, snail and mayfly are at the bottom
of the lake ecosystem food chain. Therefore, if they die out, even secondary consumers that can
survive lower pH levels will eventually die too.
Each spring, as the previous winter's snow melts all at once, the pH is drops to 5.0 for weeks
at a time, causing an "acid shock." The EPA estimates that 43 percent of the Park's lakes and
ponds will reach a critical point by the year 2040 without further controls on air pollution.
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