Turbidity

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Turbidity standards of 5, 50, and 500 NTU
Turbidity standards of 5, 50, and 500 NTU

Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid, or of air, caused by individual particles (suspended solids) that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air.

Turbidity in open water is often caused by phytoplankton and the measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. The higher the turbidity, the higher the risk of the drinkers developing gastrointestinal diseases, especially for immune-compromised people, because contaminants like virus or bacteria can become attached to the suspended solid. The suspended solids interfere with water disinfection with chlorine because the particles act as shields for the virus and bacteria. Similarly suspended solids can protect bacteria from UV sterilisation of water.

Fluids can contain suspended solid matter consisting of particles of many different sizes. While some suspended material will be large enough and heavy enough to settle rapidly to the bottom container if a liquid sample is left to stand (the settleable solids), very small particles will settle only very slowly or not at all if the sample is regularly agitated or the particles are colloidal. These small solid particles cause the liquid to appear turbid.

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Turbid creek water caused by heavy rains.
Turbid creek water caused by heavy rains.

The most widely used measurement unit for turbidity is the FTU (Formazin Turbidity Unit). ISO refers to its units as FNU (Formazin Nephelometric Units).

There are several practical ways of checking water quality, the most direct being some measure of attenuation (that is, reduction in strength) of light as it passes through a sample column of water. The alternatively used Jackson Candle method (units: Jackson Turbidity Unit or JTU) is essentially the inverse measure of the length of a column of water needed to completely obscure a candle flame viewed through it. The more water needed (the longer the water column), the clearer the water. Of course water alone produces some attenuation, and any substances dissolved in the water that produce color can attenuate some wavelengths. Modern instruments do not use candles, but this approach of attenuation of a light beam through a column of water should be calibrated and reported in JTUs.

A property of the particles — that they will scatter a light beam focused on them — is considered a more meaningful measure of turbidity in water. Turbidity measured this way uses an instrument called a nephelometer with the detector setup to the side of the light beam. More light reaches the detector if there are lots of small particles scattering the source beam than if there are few. The units of turbidity from a calibrated nephelometer are called Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU). To some extent, how much light reflects for a given amount of particulates is dependent upon properties of the particles like their shape, color, and reflectivity. For this reason (and the reason that heavier particles settle quickly and do not contribute to a turbidity reading), a correlation between turbidity and TSS is somewhat unique for each location or situation.

Turbidity in lakes, reservoirs, and the ocean can be measured using a Secchi disk. This black and white disk is lowered into the water until it can no longer be seen; the depth (Secchi depth) is then recorded as a measure of the transparency of the water (inversely related to turbidity). The Secchi disk has the advantages of integrating turbidity over depth (where variable turbidity layers are present), being quick and easy to use, and inexpensive. It can provide a rough indication of the depth of the euphotic zone with a 3-fold division of the Secchi depth. However, this cannot be used in shallow waters where the disk can still be seen on the bottom.

Turbidity normally increases after heavy rain. The rain runs along the ground picking up small particles of dirt before emptying into water sources, hence increasing turbidity levels. These increased levels can harm the fish that live in them. The fish can stop eating, cough, and have reduced growth rates, in high turbid areas, until they eventually die.

Turbidity in air, which causes solar beam attenuation, is used as a measure of pollution. To model the attenuation of beam irradiance, several turbidity parameters have been introduced, including the Linke turbidity factor (TL)[1].

There are frequently standards on the allowable turbidity in drinking water. In the United States (as of 2003) the allowable standard is 1 NTU, with many drinking water utilities striving to achieve levels as low as 0.1 NTU.

  • ISO 7027 "Water Quality: Determination of Turbidity" [2]
  • US EPA 180.1 "Turbidity"[3]

For many mangrove areas, turbidity is needed to be high. For most mangroves along the eastern Coast of Australia, in particular Moreton Bay, turbidity is necessary to be as high as 6NTU.

  1. ^ http://www.helioclim.net/linke
  2. ^ http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=30123
  3. ^ http://www.umass.edu/tei/mwwp/acrobat/epa180_1turbidity.pdf
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