What does pH 7 say about the water?

Question

if the pH level is 7 does this mean the water is fresh and what would cause the water pH to be 7 if the water sample was taken near a stream flowing out to the ocean

Answer 1

pH 7 is neutral, which is what pure water would be. Typically most water you encounter actually has a lower pH, being slightly acidic.
Edit: Wait, I get it. The water could be fresh, but it's likely brackish. Fresh water you would expect to have a lower pH than that (around 6.5 usually), whereas seawater is a bit alkaline, usually having a pH around 7.5-8.4. The stream is probably under some tidal influence, resulting in mixing of seawater and freshwater to get brackish water with an intermediate pH of 7.

Answer 2

pH 7 means the water is neither acidic nor basic, it is neutral. It can contain salts or other compunds which do not affect pH.

Pure distilled water is actually a bit acidic, around 6.5. Inside your stomach you have an pH of around 1-2 which is very acidic indeed, it's caustic. Normal soap on the other hand is basic, with a pH around 7-8.

pH makes no statement about freshness of water, or how clean or healthy it is. If the water was taken near a stream, nothing would happen to it. You could pour it into the stream or ocean where it would mix with the water there and basically adopt the present pH.

Answer 3

Yes. The pH scale is from 0-14. Under 7 is acidic. Over 7 is basic. 7, being right in the middle, is neutral, which is where water is supposed to be. Sometimes, people squeeze fresh lemon in their water for the taste. This makes it very slightly acidic so the body absorbs it better.

Answer 4

it doesn't necessarily mean that it's fresh, it just means that the water has a neutral pH. :)

Answer 5

pH only measures how acidic or alkaline the liquid was. It has nothing to do with purity, bacteria, salts, ....

Answer 6

Yep Ph7 is Neutral.

Answer 7

that means its balanced. not to hard and not to soft. just right.