Jakarta’s rain highly acidic: Expert

A scientist has said that the rain that falls in the capital is highly acidic because of the large quantity of pollutants in the air.

“The thickness of the acid is strongly related to how close the rain is to air pollution sources like the thousands of factories near Jakarta. In Jakarta’s case, they are close enough,” Indonesian Institute of Sciences water and climate change expert Heru Santoso said on Tuesday as quoted by Antara news agency.

He added that the acid rain could not be easily distinguished from normal rain, but that the acidity could damage buildings and plant life. (drs)