Test Kit Advise
Noura, With reading your questions/remarks here, I find only two replies which actually touched on the facts constituting an answer, with one somewhat comprehensive. In simply (if its possible) and directly addressing this topic, the answer is “NO”; “alkalinity” is NOT directly related to pH.
The long-term misconception of this has derived from associating a higher pH as being “alkaline.” Water of a state as having a pH above neutral (7.0), while referred to as alkaline, is more correctly known as “base” (or basic) as opposed to being acid (or acidic). In actuality, “alkalinity” is a measure of the buffering capacity of the water in terms of its content of elements/minerals (or compounds/salts of), which will sustain a given water body’s pH at a certain level in the presence of acid inducing influences of up to equal proportions tending to alter (lower) the pH. These measurements are expressed in PPM (parts per million) or Degrees of Hardness (17.5 ppm = 1 dH) in carbonates and/or sulphates of water- hardening elements, most notably calcium, magnesium and boron salts.
In this way, alkalinity (buffering capacity) is indirectly connected to pH, since in general the higher the buffering capacity of the water, the greater the propensity for maintaining a certain pH without its being influenced by acids, thus stabilizing it. Therefore, high alkalinity is generally associated with “alkaline” (basic) water of a pH above 7.0, as these buffering salts tend to make the water basic, but can still be associated with soft water usually when there are relatively little acids present. Ray
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