I unfortunately live in a very polluted area, one where air quality apps mark in red and recommend that I never get out of my lair.
When it rains enough the air quality becomes more bearable and here comes the question: where does pollution go when it rains hard? Does it get pushed to the ground and stays there? Does it get embedded in the water (so instead of breathing it, I get to drink it later in the tap water)?
I’m curious to know where it gets dispersed or stuck (to possibly avoid it)
AFAIK it ends up on the ground, and in the ground water. Which means that it could contaminate drinking water if it’s not treated properly. It will enter rivers and lakes, and snow and everywhere else that water gets.
Yup. Raindrops originate from water vapor collecting around a particle in the air. When the rain falls, it pulls those air pollutants to the ground, where they either enter the ground or run down to rivers, lakes, or the ocean.
So pollution does indeed bind with water and gets carried around. I wonder how well chlorine helps destroy or clean such filth
The rain that is falling today doesn’t end up in drinking water for a good while, depending on where you are. In the meantime it gets filtered by the soil it flows through.
On top of that not everything that’s unhealthy to breathe is unhealthy to eat/drink. Think about coal dust for example, very bad for your lungs but also a common medicine against diarrhea when compressed into a pill.
Just to give some perspective and lift you up a bit ;)
