pH is a measurement of how acidic or how basic (alkaline) a solution is. The pH of the water is a measure of the balance between the Hydrogen (H+) and Hydroxide (OH-) ions in the water. pH is a way of expressing the hydrogen ion concentration in water. It is related to the acidic or alkaline nature of water. Acidic water contains extra hydrogen ions (H+) and basic water contains extra hydroxide (OH-) ions. The concentrations of H+ and OH- are equal in pure water, but adding certain kinds of solutes, called acids and bases, disrupts this balance. pH scale is used to describe how acidic or basic (the opposite of acidic) a solution is. Typically all natural waters fall within the range of 6.0 to 8.0 pH. A value of 7.0 is considered to be a neutral pH. Values below 7.0 are acidic and values above 7.0 are alkaline.
pH is measured on a scale of 0 to 14. Water that is neutral has a pH of 7. Acidic water has pH values less than 7, with 0 being the most acidic. Likewise, basic water has values greater than 7, with 14 being the most basic. A change of 1 unit on a pH scale represents a 10 fold change in the pH, so that water with pH of 6 is 10 times more acidic than water with a pH of 7, and water with a pH of 5 is 100 times more acidic than water with a pH of 7.
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