This international cooperation now seems to be yielding results. Nitrogen deposition, on the other hand, has remained virtually constant, the main culprit being road traffic. Its analyses show that sulphate concentrations are falling at nearly all its monitoring sites, and that, in general, this decline has accelerated since 1990. Lower sulphur deposition has helped water chemistry to improve and invertebrate fauna to recover at many monitoring sites. The changes in sulphate concentrations also cause changes in the concentration of other constituents in the water.
Alkalinity is a measure of water quality.
So an increase in alkalinity indicates that the water quality is improving and recovering from acidification. Future monitoring will tell.