The impact of PH on your drinking water

A very contemporary issue that has cropped up in recent times is the ph of drinking water. PH levels in drinking water have become a very grave issue and many agencies are looking into it very deeply. However, there are still numerous places where this incidence is not being addressed as urgently as it should. To give a basic insight of what it is and how ph of drinking water is causing harmful effects on our body, let us take a deeper look.

What do we really mean by PH level?

PH is the measurement of the hydrogen ion concentration in a diluted solution. Usually, by PH of the water, we mean the acid-base equilibrium in natural water. The Ph level ranges from 0-14, 7 being neutral while below 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. Ph of drinking water should range from 6.5 to 8.5.

With this brief idea of what is Ph level and what should be the desired ph of drinking water, we move on to see some of the effects of ph level on water and how it happens.

What factors affect the Ph of water?

There are a few factors which directly affects the ph level of drinking water such as:

1.    Temperature

2.    Carbon Dioxide concentration in water

3.    Acid Rain

4.    Dissolved Minerals

5.    Wastewater

These in turn indirectly affects the health of the human beings who consume this infected or contaminated water on a daily basis. We shall look into some of those health effects.

Impact of Ph level of water on Health

Skin Diseases – When the Ph of drinking water is elevated than 11, it can be a cause of many skin diseases and even affect the eye and the mucous membrane. Ph below 4 can also cause irritation of the skin. But a higher ph level is more harmful as it can worsen existing skin problems.

Lead-exposed or corrosive water - Acidic water can corrode plumbing and pipe systems and result in the leaching of heavy metals in the water. Consumption of such contaminated water can lead to many neurological or reproductive problems such as miscarriages, seizures or hearing loss.

Gastro-intestinal Problems – Consuming lead-tainted water can cause stomach upset and other serious abdominal related diseases. For example, Nausea, diarrhea or vomiting can be caused by water which is overexposed to zinc or copper.

Effect of Aquatic Life and its indirect effect on us - If ph levels of water surfaces go below 4.5 or above 10, it can lead fish to die and affect other aquatic wildlife negatively. Not only this but since our major source of drinking water comes from surface water bodies, this contaminated water can indirectly harm us by having toxic effects like high ammonia or increased bacterial or parasitic disease-causing micro-organisms.

Thus, we can conclude from here that it is extremely necessary to control the Ph level of water and pay increased attention to this in order to ensure consumption of clean and healthy water and avoid any sort of harmful effects on our health.