pH and Water

Yesterday while preparing presentation material for students I found myself on a learning rabbit trail. One of the activities we will be doing is taking water samples at various locations along Costa Rica and measuring for the basic water quality parameters of Dissolved Oxygen (DO), turbidity, temperature and pH. In so preparing a brief lecture on the importance of these parameters I got stopped by pH as I chose to look more into the importance of pH in water.

I found out a couple more details about pH from being curious. Guess I had apparently forgotten about them in my chemistry class. First off, being that the pH (potential of hydrogen) scale ranges from 0-14 (0-6 being acidic and 8-14 being alkalinic) the pH of our bodies should normally be 7.35. This means that our bodies are slightly more alkaline than acidic.

The importance of pH and our human health is surreal! When we eat more acidic things, aka soda, fried meals, salt, and greases our pH levels drop. When we eat more alkaline foods our pH levels rise. It must therefore be a system of balances. What I learned from my research is that it is better for our bodies to be on the more alkaline side. Why? Well, diseases, viruses and bacteria thrive in acidic environments and CAN NOT persist in alkaline environments. Think of the average American diet, where consuming sodas, fries, fried chicken and chips is the norm. Now think of how acidic that person's pH level is as a result. A Coca-Cola soda for example sits on the pH scale as 1.5! It takes a lot of water and green vegetables to rebalance that level.

How does water play into all of this? WELL LET ME TELL YOU! Water sits on the pH scale as neutral at 7.  The more water we drink the more we are able to neutralize our bodies and for better health stay away from the acidic scale. However, many people turn to bottled water as it is the most convenient commodity around. But there is one problem with bottled water: it is most times acidic! How? Well all of the chemicals from the bottle itself over time leach into the water itself increasing the sources acidity. Furthermore when water sits in a container for a long period of time it looses oxygen and becomes heated. The heat impacting the stagnant water actually breaks the hydrogen and oxygen bonds in the water creating free radical hydrogen molecules not connected to the other HO molecules. Since H are + , these free radicals increase the pH of the water (see diagram above on the left column to visualize how added H+ decreases pH).  Therefore when drinking bottled water, most of the times you are actually contributing to the acidity in your system. (Different bottled water brands have been different levels of pH most around 5 and 6 but some going as low as 3 and 4 on the pH scale).  When water is oxidized, oxygen molecules are able to reconnect to the free floating hydrogen radicals thereby reforming a stable H2O molecule--decreasing acidity in water.

Since it is the acidic environment that disease, bacteria and viruses inhabit it is important to maintain a level of alkalinity in your system. Alkaline water has been proven to actually cure diseases!
Here is an example chart of the foods that can improve and harm your health based on the pH scale. Helpful:

You should at least be drinking half of your body weight in oz. of water.
When we however are conscious of what enters our body, we are in turn being mindful of the pH scale--and there are benefits!