Water pH tells you how acidic or alkaline your water is on a scale from 0 to 14. This guide explains the scale, shows where everyday drinks sit, tells you how to test water pH at home, and explains why Designer Water reaches pH 10 and holds it.
pH is short for "potential of hydrogen". It measures how many hydrogen ions are in a liquid. More hydrogen ions means more acidic. Fewer means more alkaline, which chemists also call basic.
The scale runs from 0 to 14. Pure water sits at 7, right in the middle, and that is called neutral. Anything below 7 is acidic. Anything above 7 is alkaline.
The scale is logarithmic, not linear. Each whole step is ten times the one before it. Water at pH 8 is ten times more alkaline than water at pH 7. Water at pH 10 is a thousand times more alkaline than pH 7. That is why a jump from 7 to 10 is a much bigger change than it looks on paper.
Acids sit on the left. Alkaline liquids sit on the right. Most drinking water lands close to the middle. Designer Water sits at 10.
A quick note on your body. Blood pH is held between 7.35 and 7.45 by your own buffering systems, whatever you drink. The pH of your water is about taste, minerals and how the water was made. It is not a medical measure.
Ranges are typical values. Brands, batches and where you live all move the number a little. Test your own water if you want a precise reading.
| Drink | Typical pH | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Lemon juice | 2.0 to 2.6 | Strongly acidic |
| Cola and fizzy soft drinks | 2.4 to 3.0 | Strongly acidic |
| Orange juice | 3.3 to 4.2 | Acidic |
| Coffee | 4.5 to 5.5 | Mildly acidic |
| Tap water (typical guideline range) | 6.5 to 8.5 | Near neutral |
| Pure water | 7.0 | Neutral |
| Sea water | 7.5 to 8.4 | Slightly alkaline |
| Baking soda in water | 8.0 to 9.0 | Alkaline |
| PureSafe still water | 8.5 | Alkaline · purified still water |
| Designer Water pH10 | 10 | Alkaline · tested on every batch |
Sources: the typical drink ranges are standard reference values. The tap water range reflects common drinking water guidelines. Designer Water and PureSafe values are our own batch test results.
Two glasses of water can look identical and sit a full point apart on the scale. Four things do most of the moving.
Rivers, dams and boreholes each pick up different minerals from the rock and soil they pass through. Borehole water that has moved through limestone tends to sit higher. Soft, low-mineral water tends to sit lower.
Every metro handles its water differently. Chemicals added to clean and stabilise the supply shift the pH. In South Africa, the SANS 241 drinking water standard sets an acceptable range of 5 to 9.7 for tap water, so the spread between cities is real and allowed.
Calcium, magnesium and potassium push pH up. Dissolved carbon dioxide pushes it down, which is why fizzy water reads lower than the same water still. Take the minerals out, as reverse osmosis does, and the pH drifts toward or below neutral.
Boiling drives off dissolved carbon dioxide, which nudges pH up for a while. As the water cools and takes gas back in from the air, it drifts back. This is why a reading from a freshly opened bottle is the one that counts.
Three common methods, ranked from most to least reliable. Pick the one that matches how precise you need to be.
A laboratory measures pH with calibrated equipment under controlled conditions. It is what water producers use for batch verification. It is the gold standard, but it is not practical for a glass of water at home.
A digital probe meter gives a reliable reading if you calibrate it regularly with buffer solutions and rinse the probe between samples. Test at room temperature and read the number once it settles. This is the same type of instrument we use in our quality lab.
Cheap paper strips are made for liquids with plenty of dissolved solids, like pool water or urine. Very clean water has too little dissolved material for the strip to react properly, so the colour is faint and easy to misread. Strips are a rough guide at best.
Test from a freshly opened bottle, because pH drifts once the water sits open to the air. Let the water reach room temperature. And calibrate your meter before you start, because an uncalibrated meter will confidently give you the wrong answer.
Designer Water starts with a 14-stage purification process, then adds the minerals back in. The alkalinity comes from calcium, magnesium and potassium, not from a chemical shortcut. That is what makes the pH stable in the bottle.
Added during the remineralisation stage. Calcium is one of the main reasons naturally hard water sits above neutral.
Dissolved magnesium works alongside calcium to lift the pH and give the water its smooth, full mouthfeel.
Potassium rounds out the mineral mix. Together the three minerals hold the water at pH 10 from the bottling line to your glass.
Every batch is tested with a calibrated pH meter under our SANBWA and ISO 22000 protocols before it leaves the plant. The pH printed on the label is the pH in the bottle. Molecular hydrogen is infused and ORP is reduced at time of bottling. These are descriptions of our process, not health claims.
"You can taste the difference between this water and other brands. Like cheap wine vs award winning wine. My body loves this."
"I struggled drinking water but I'm now a disciplined water drinker. I love drinking water."
96.9% preferred Designer Water in an independent taste test of 390 non-customer respondents. Testimonials reflect personal experiences.
Five sizes, all sold by the case. Delivered nationwide, or collect from Midrand or your nearest Master Distributor.
If you want a lower-pH purified water for the family, PureSafe sits at pH 8.5 and carries the same six certifications as pH10, from R180 a case.
Straight answers to the questions we get asked most.
Tested on every batch. Calcium, magnesium and potassium in every glass. Six certifications. Cases from R211, delivered nationwide.
SANBWA · ISO 22000 · Kosher · Halal · GC Mark · GFSI benchmarked · Made in SA · Since 2013