text: In typical groundwater or seawater, the measured total alkalinity is set equal to:
  : A = [] + 2[] + [] + [OH] + 2[] + [] + [] − [H] − []
  (Subscript T indicates the total concentration of the species in the solution as measured. This is opposed to the free concentration, which takes into account the significant amount of ion pair interactions that occur in seawater.)
  Alkalinity can be measured by titrating a sample with a strong acid until all the buffering capacity of the aforementioned ions above the pH of bicarbonate or carbonate is consumed. This point is functionally set to pH 4.5. At this point, all the bases of interest have been protonated to the zero level species, hence they no longer cause alkalinity. In the carbonate system the bicarbonate ions [] and the carbonate ions [] have become converted to carbonic acid [HCO] at this pH. This pH is also called the CO equivalence point where the major component in water is dissolved CO which is converted to HCO in an aqueous solution. There are no strong acids or bases at this point. Therefore, the alkalinity is modeled and quantified with respect to the CO equivalence point. Because the alkalinity is measured with respect to the CO equivalence point, the dissolution of CO, although it adds acid and dissolved inorganic carbon, does not change the alkalinity. In natural conditions, the dissolution of basic rocks and addition of ammonia [NH] or organic amines leads to the addition of base to natural waters at the CO equivalence point. The dissolved base in water increases the pH and titrates an equivalent amount of CO to bicarbonate ion and carbonate ion. At equilibrium, the water contains a certain amount of alkalinity contributed by the concentration of weak acid anions. Conversely, the addition of acid converts weak acid anions to CO and continuous addition of strong acids can cause the alkalinity to become less than zero. For example, the following reactions take place during the addition of acid to a typical seawater solution:
  :  + H → B(OH) + HO
  : OH + H → HO
  :  + 2 H → 
  :  + H → 
  : [] + H → [Si(OH)]
  It can be seen from the above protonation reactions that most bases consume one proton (H) to become a neutral species, thus increasing alkalinity by one per equivalent.  however, will consume two protons before becoming a zero-level species (CO), thus it increases alkalinity by two per mole of . [H] and [] decrease alkalinity, as they act as sources of protons. They are often represented collectively as [H].
  Alkalinity is typically reported as mg/L as CaCO.  (The conjunction "as" is appropriate in this case because the alkalinity results from a mixture of ions but is reported "as if" all of this is due to CaCO.)  This can be converted into milliequivalents per Liter (meq/L) by dividing by 50 (the approximate MW of CaCO divided by 2).