In addition to balancing chlorine levels, pools and hot tubs must be maintained at an appropriate pH in order to minimize microbial contamination. What does an improper pH do to microorganisms?

The answer is given below in detail.

Explanation:

Microorganisms may a general term used to describe viruses, fungus or bacteria.

The structure of most of viruses and bacteria are made from proteins. An improper pH has the ability to disrupt the protein by:

Explanation:

Fluctuation  in pH of a medium containing microorganisms beyond the optimum, of 7 usually affects microorganism negatively.It disrupts the  biochemical and chemical reactions  pathways necessary  for

1.growth of  microorganism,

2. and for the functions and structure  characteristics of microorganism.

Explanation:

In case of low pH ,high acidity , the high H+ concentration interacts with  the R-group of the amino acid-protein structure, by destroying the ionization  of the group. Thus  nullifying the positive or negative charges of the R-group. Consequently the ionic bond holding the 3-Dimensional Protein structure is destroyed. Therefore the protein structure collapsed.  Thus enzymes in microorganism  lose the specificity of their active sites, and therefore failed to catalyse many biochemical reactions needed for survival in these organisms leading to death.

Alkalinity affects microorganism by disrupting  the buffer system in the cells cytoplasm ,Therefore the microorganisms raises the acidic levels in the cytoplasm to neutralizing the effects further disrupting their biochemical activities.