How Do I Test The pH Level Of Water?

If you are taking steps to improve your health and well-being, it is satisfying to see concrete improvements in health markers that are visible and measurable. Improving your body’s hydration at a cellular level is something that can be measured instantly and easily when you test water pH of your tap water comparing it to your zazen water.

How To Check Water Alkalinity

Water alkalinity refers to water with a pH level above 7 on the scale is 0-14. Anything above 7 is considered alkaline, anything under 7 is acidic. Most regular tap water is around 7pH. Our bodies are normally between 7.35 and 7.45pH. 

Your pH balance is important for general health and wellbeing. If our bodies are unable to maintain a healthy alkaline level, an imbalance in pH can lead to sickness and disease through acidosis (pH levels far lower than 7.35) and alkalosis (pH levels much higher than 7.45). 

Logically, it makes sense that optimal drinking water pH levels should be similar to your body’s, instead of on the neutral or acidic side of the pH scale, which is what tap water and most other waters are. 

Add to this the beneficial minerals within alkaline water, and the fact that the zazen system is designed to find the optimal pH balance around 7.4 (or be increased up to 8.5 pH using our Alkalinity & Anti-Oxidant Enhancer), circulating essential alkaline minerals all around your body and helping you stay in a healthy alkaline state. 

How To Use Litmus Paper To Test Water

If you’re wondering how to check water alkalinity or how to test alkaline water at home, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s very simple. Just use a convenient, affordable pH water tester and test your tap water, bottled water, rain water or pond water with ease.

Another way to test your water’s alkaline levels is by using litmus paper. A litmus paper test is as easy as dipping your litmus paper strip into your water sample for a few seconds, making sure the water level is deep enough to cover the litmus paper strip.

The litmus paper will then turn red and blue. Red litmus paper turns blue if it is dipped in alkaline water. Blue litmus paper will turn red if it is dipped in acidic water. Neutral solutions with 7pH will not change the colour of the litmus papers.

While litmus tests are incredibly simple, they also provide incredibly basic results too. As you’ve no doubt deduced, litmus paper will only tell you if your water is acidic or alkaline, not provide any guidance as to the actual pH level at all. 

By contrast, water pH test kits are much more accurate than litmus paper, as pH testing strips feature an accurate range of colour results that define how acidic or alkaline your water really is.

Being able to closely determine the pH levels of your regular water will allow you to make a much more informed decision as to whether you should switch to alkaline water. You can also stay informed about all things alkaline water over on our blog.

When measuring the pH level of water, it is important not to use the strips commonly used to measure the pH level in urine or saliva. These provide incorrect readings and are not useful for measuring water pH.  The best options include:

• pH water specific paper strips
• pool pH kit
• pH test field kits
• electronic probe pH testers.

Electronic Water Testing Probes are Pinpoint Accurate

Electronic testing probes, regularly calibrated for pinpoint accuracy, are the most accurate system for measuring water alkalinity or acidity. Unfortunately, with the improved accuracy comes a more expensive price tag and so this technology is not always accessible at home. Since our business is water, we have invested in these testing systems to use in-house, as well as government water testing laboratories. For you at home, pH water test strips and pool pH kits are adequate, albeit much less precise.

Lo Ion pH strips can be misleading

If you are testing your zazen water to compare with your tap water, which we recommend for both interest and testimony of the great benefits of the zazen system, the following feedback is useful.

A number of customers using the Lo Ion paper strip for the pH test reported that the zazen water result was acidic.  The reason for this anomaly is that the user determines the results visually. The user must interpret the colour change on the testing paper. This would normally be fine except that the specific and ideal range that we are looking for is in a difficult colour range on the testing paper.

Remember, water alkalinity is ideal between 7.4pH and 8.5pH. If you were looking for low or high acidity or alkalinity, it is visually much clearer. Low acidic is below 6, which is the light green to yellow range. High alkaline is above 9, which is the dark blue to emerald green range. But when looking at pH between 6.8  and 8.5 range, the colour variance is more subtle and much more difficult to interpret. We have found that this has been the cause for this repeated misreading on the Lo Ion testing strips.

If a customer experiences something similar, we send 2 test bottles and ask for samples of the tap water they are using and a zazen Water system sample. We utilise the electronic water pH testing probe in-house to get an accurate and reliable reading and the results are returned. What we have found is that the “acidic” water reading made by the customer is generally wrong when tested using the electronic probe. On average the customer interpretation is out by 0.8pH – 1.5pH (lower than it actually is).

If you are experiencing difficulty measuring the pH level of your water, just contact us and we’re happy to measure and report the findings back to you!