Tap Water

[rocknurworld2006]

do you think my tap water is actually ok to drink considering the ph is 4.0!!!!!!!

 

[silkiechicken]

Why not? Your stomach pH is 2.

 

[kim03333]

your tap water is fine to drink. ph 4 = a weak acid, so nothing that's gonna corrode your insides lol. i bet you live in an area where the water is very soft aswell? my water is totally the opposite. it's very hard and alkaline ph 8

 

[Colin_T]

If you are asking whether tap water is safe to drink when it has a low PH then yes it is but it can lead to osteoporosis due to the body using calcium from the bones to neutralise the acid water. Neutral or alkaline water with some mineral content is better for you in this respects.
However, if you are asking about tap water in general, I would say it isn't as safe as we are lead to believe. According to "The Man" our tap water is perfectly safe and only has a bit of chlorine and fluoride in it. Yet if you have it tested by an independent lab they find all sorts of stuff in it and much of what is in the water is not safe at all.

 

[tenohfive]

The way I choose to look at it is this: the vast majority of the UK population manage fine.

 

[raptorrex]

The way I choose to look at it is this: the vast majority of the UK population manage fine.

indeed so! there is about as much chance of being damaged by soft water, as being hit by an asteroid. both are possibility's, but that's all they are.

Colin, acid water does not have to be totally de mineralised. the North west of England is very "soft", yet osteoporosis is no higher there than the rest of the country, on the whole. and water from there is fed to Manchester, no signs of problems there either. its often difficult to separate scientific possibility's from real world possibility's.

 

[rhostog]

If your tap water is actually pH 4, then it may contravene regulations - but I'm not sure if you have the same regulations in Scotland as in England. This is from my local (English) water authority website:

"From 22/12/2007 the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000 (Amendment) Regulations 2007 came into force changing the PCV for... pH to a minimum of 6.5 and a maximum of 9.5."

PCV = Prescribed concentration or value - i.e. limit allowed.
This means that pH lower than 6.5 or higher than 9.5 is unacceptable.

What pH test are you using? - some are more accurate than others, and some are easy to mis-read... If you're confident in your results, I'd suggest you take it up with your water authority - even if you have different regulations in Scotland, I would imagine they'd aim for the same acceptable range. While the pH may not be a problem in itself, I would want to find out more about its effect on the concentration of dissolved minerals in the water, especially if it has recently become much more acidic, or if you have lead piping.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

If your tap water is actually pH 4, then it may contravene regulations - but I'm not sure if you have the same regulations in Scotland as in England. This is from my local (English) water authority website:

"From 22/12/2007 the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000 (Amendment) Regulations 2007 came into force changing the PCV for... pH to a minimum of 6.5 and a maximum of 9.5."

PCV = Prescribed concentration or value - i.e. limit allowed.
This means that pH lower than 6.5 or higher than 9.5 is unacceptable.

What pH test are you using? - some are more accurate than others, and some are easy to mis-read... If you're confident in your results, I'd suggest you take it up with your water authority - even if you have different regulations in Scotland, I would imagine they'd aim for the same acceptable range. While the pH may not be a problem in itself, I would want to find out more about its effect on the concentration of dissolved minerals in the water, especially if it has recently become much more acidic, or if you have lead piping.

basically it comes out of tap is as 7.2 but by the next morning its 4.0

 

[rhostog]

Dunno what's going on there then. I guess you've got very very soft water with no buffering capability, but even so that sound like an excessive fall just from sitting overnight in a bucket. Is it causing problems in your tank, and if so, have you tried adding something (calcium carbonate etc.) to increase the hardness of your water slightly, and therefore hopefully stabilise the pH?

 

[rocknurworld2006]

Dunno what's going on there then. I guess you've got very very soft water with no buffering capability, but even so that sound like an excessive fall just from sitting overnight in a bucket. Is it causing problems in your tank, and if so, have you tried adding something (calcium carbonate etc.) to increase the hardness of your water slightly, and therefore hopefully stabilise the pH?

i have to keep a shell in every tank i have to keep ph up.

so takes a bit of messing about with ph

our local water board puts no buffer in our water