Researchers find air pollution link to drought

Researchers say air pollution is contributing to drought in southwest U.S.

Steamboat Springs, CO (PRWEB) July 29, 2004 -- Air pollution's roles in health problems and climate change get a lot of attention these days. But a mounting body of scientific evidence is beginning to link dirty air to another environmental problem - drought.

Working at a remote mountaintop lab in the Rocky Mountains, a team of scientists from Nevada's Desert Research Institute says polluted air can cut a storm's snowfall in half. Now these same researchers are zeroing in on that remaining snow, and they think pollution may be squeezing out as much as another 25 percent of its water content.

This is bad news for drought-ravaged Western states such as Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico - areas dependent on snowpacks for water supplies. An estimated 90 percent of Nevada's water, for example, is supplied by melting snowpacks feeding the Colorado River.

Drs. Randy Borys and Doug Lowenthal of DRI's Division of Atmospheric Sciences think water authorities are starting to take notice and with some alarm. "In normal years, you might not notice a decrease in snow's water content, but after five years of drought, every drop counts," Borys said.

Borys, director of DRI's Storm Peak Laboratory in Steamboat Springs, Colo., points out that air pollution isn't creating droughts, which are caused by larger atmospheric and climatic conditions. But dirty air could be making the situation worse, he said.

Sulfate, nitrate and possibly some organic compounds in the form of tiny particles in the atmosphere are the culprits. These are formed as a byproduct of almost any combustion process including natural fires. It is persistent pollution sources, however, that can consistently provide a source of these particles, day in and day out.

Borys and Lowenthal found that these minute particles in polluted air attract moisture and hold it in tiny, distributed packages. "This action prevents the water from gathering into droplets large enough to be removed from the sky by falling rain or snow. Instead, they just disperse and evaporate," Borys said.

Borys believes his group's studies are yet another chapter in the book on the environmental effects of pollution. "Drought is a growing worldwide concern and one that must be taken seriously. I think our research adds to the body of knowledge showing that for many reasons clean air is essential, not optional," he said.

A nonprofit, statewide division of the University and Community College System of Nevada, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale. Nearly 500 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct some 150 research projects at DRI annually. More than 85 percent of DRI's annual $37 million operating budget consists of research grants and contracts obtained by its scientists.

Contacts:
Dr. Randy Borys, Associate Research Professor, DRI
970-897-8796
randy.borys@dri.edu

Dr. Doug Lowenthal, Associate Research Professor, DRI
775-674-7047

Ron Kalb, DRI Public Information
702-862-5420
ron.kalb@dri.edu

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