Surface water acidification in the South Pennines II. Temporal trends

Data for eight reservoirs in the South Pennines covering the period 1980-98, and for 1988-98 at the River Etherow Acid Waters Monitoring Network site, have been analysed for temporal trends using the Seasonal Kendall test. Rising trends in pH were identified at seven of the eight reservoirs, generally accompanied by declining aluminium levels. Nitrate concentrations have, however, increased sharply at the two reservoirs for which adequate data were available. Data for a wider range of determinands at the Etherow suggest that pH increases in the region can be attributed to declining sulphate concentrations, as a result of reductions in sulphur deposition. Nitrate concentrations have again increased at this site. Results are significant in a national context in that pH recovery, although widely believed to have taken place in the UK since the 1970s, has rarely been shown to have occurred. For the South Pennine region, which has been severely acidified by historically high acid deposition levels, there have clearly been improvements over the last 18 years, although many surface waters remain acidic. Observed trends for nitrate suggest that some of the pH recovery resulting from reduced sulphur deposition may have been offset by nitrogen saturation in the region, due in part to continued high levels of nitrogen deposition.