What is acid rain: capital cities worry about rainfall during the unplanned

Social network users reported experiencing acid rain in Mexico City (Video: Twitter / @ EscalonaFer)

The capitalists were surprised yesterday by a heavy rain who could not stop the high levels of pollution that this week caused Extraordinary Environmental Contingence in the Valley of Mexico. Although precipitation, that in some places of the city was presented with hail, it was celebrated; many have cataloged it as acid rain and the memes did not stop even though the authorities spoke first to badyze this phenomenon.

Despite the rain that has fallen in some demarcations of the capital, Suspended Particulate Matter Continued in the Valley of Mexico, with a maximum of 146 PM2.5 points in the northeastern zone, where the The quality of the air was bad.

Heavy rain with hail registered in at least two town halls: Álvaro Obregón and Benito Juárez, in Coyoacán, Miguel Hidalgo, Iztacalco, Venustiano Carranza, Azcapotzalco, Gustavo A. Madero, Magdalena Contreras, Cuajimalpa, Iztapalapa, Tlalpan, Tlalhuac and Xochimil According to the Command, Control, Computer, Communications and Citizen Contact Center of Mexico City (C5), the rains were heavy to moderate and resulted in waterlogging in different areas of the capital.

In social networks, they thanked the god Mexica for the rain, Tlaloc, to have brought the rain that was so necessary to Mexico City To disperse fine particles (PM2.5), many others have labeled acid rain, which Contains corrosive components that may affect our health and our environmentit is one of the most serious environmental problems in the world.

Twitter users were alarmed because in the water puddled they noticed a kind of white cream, which is not normally seen when it rains. Others have published memoirs of people exposed to acid, alluding to rainfall that has surprised more than one person in the nation's capital.

In this regard, the authorities indicated that rain water had to undergo an badysis determine if its nature is acidic or alkaline.

L & # 39; universal consulted the Environment Secretariat of Mexico City (Sedema), which He ruled that it's risky to say that it was acid rain because it was not studied in a chemistry lab.

Acid rain, according to its own Sedema, it starts when air pollutants dissolve with moisture in the air by forming sulfuric acid, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, they modify the normal composition of the water droplets that form the clouds and, when they precipitate, they cause acid rain (pH less than 5.6).

C & # 39; caused by coal plants, factories and automobile exhaust.

Acid rain is dangerous because it is composed of corrosive chemicals. who can get rid of automotive paint and dissolve building materials, sculptures, monuments and other elements of urban infrastructure.

"Human beings we are responsible for acid rain and paradoxically we also suffer the effects: may cause eye and skin irritation and respiratory problems. When people breathe these sulphates, their airways contract and the flow of oxygen to the lungs decreases, "said Sedema.

This phenomenon also affects aquatic life, because it poisons fish and plants.

Despite the rain of last night and the predictions that they will recur today, the air quality remains bad. The atmosphere monitoring system (Simat) reported that at the Santiago Acahualtepec station in Mexico City, there were 146 PM2.5 particle points.