MANCHESTER is Europe’s Capital for acid rain. Rain dissolves building stones faster in central Manchester than at any other test site from Donegal to Athens, according to the results of an Irish study. Another British test site, at Liphook in Hampshire, also fared badly.
The study, conducted by Paul O’Brien and colleagues at Trinity College, Dublin, found that an average of 46 grams of stone was washed from every square metre of limestone, sandstone and marble in Manchester during the 20-month study period. The city suffered worst because its rain was the most acid even though, surprisingly, during the study period its rainfall was among the lowest.
Other large cities, such as Athens, Copenhagen and Amsterdam, had rates of stone loss only a fraction of those at the British sites. Donegal, a county in northwest Ireland, suffered badly because of intensely heavy rainfall, say the researchers (see Graph).
