Scot Mc Pherson wrote:

>Water is the universal solvent. It is both an acid and a base concurrently 

Broadly speaking, freshwater may be neutral, acid, or alkaline. The
neutrality of water, or its degree of acidity or alkalinity, is known as its
pH value. Much mystery has been made about the pH value of water, but, in
reality, there is nothing very mysterious about it, nor is the subject so
complicated, as some would have us believe. The pH value can be defined as
'a number used to express the concentration of ionised hydrogen in an
aqueous fluid and is thus indicative of the reaction of that fluid, that is,
the neutrality or the degree of acidity or alkalinity'. 

According to the theory of electrolytic dissociation all liquids of which
water is a constituent contain free, positively charged hydrogen (H+) ions
and negatively charged hydroxyl (OH-) ions. When the amount of these two
ions present in a liquid is exactly balanced the liquid is said to be
neutral. If there be an excess of hydrogen (H+) ions the liquid is acid, and
conversely if the hydroxyl (OH-) ions be in excess, it is alkaline. Absolute
neutrality has a pH value of 7.07 (usually taken as 7.0).

http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/pH.htm

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