Which quantitative analyses define water quality?
Water quality can also be assessed by a number of quantitative laboratory analyses, such as pH, Total Solids (TS), Conductivity and microbial contamination. The pH is the value that determines if a substance is acid, neutral or basic, calculated from the number of hydrogen ions present. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 14, on which 7 means the substance is neutral. pH values below 7 indicate that a substance is acidic and pH values above 7 indicate that it is basic. When a substance is neutral the number of hydrogen and hydroxyl atoms are equal. When the number of hydrogen (H+) atoms exceeds the number of hydroxyl (OH-) atoms, a substance is acidic.
