Turbidity

Turbidity is an indication of how clear the water is. If the water is clear enough for light to penetrate a long way, plants can grow. These plants provide habitat to fish and other aquatic animals. High turbidity reduces the aesthetic value of water by making it cloudy.

Turbidity varies naturally. In some areas very fine particles remain suspended in the water, making it a milky coffee colour, while in other areas the water can be quite clear.

Turbidity is measured in nephelometric turbidity units or NTU.

Freshwater ecosystem protection
For freshwater ecosystem protection, a guideline turbidity value of 50 NTU is used. In some places, such as far north South Australia, turbidity can be naturally much higher than this value.

Marine and estuarine ecosystem protection
For marine and estuarine ecosystem protection, there are two guideline values:

lower value = 5 NTU
upper value = 10NTU

Recreational use
For recreational uses of fresh and marine waters, there are two guideline values for turbidity:

lower value = 5 NTU
upper value = 25 NTU

This page was last modified 16-06-2006
 

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