What is the normal range for turbidity?

The WHO (World Health Organization), establishes that the turbidity of drinking water shouldn’t be more than 5 NTU, and should ideally be below 1 NTU.

What is the turbidity scale?

Turbidity is the measure of relative clarity of a liquid. It is an optical characteristic of water and is a measurement of the amount of light that is scattered by material in the water when a light is shined through the water sample. The higher the intensity of scattered light, the higher the turbidity.

What are the different types of turbidity?

Most portable turbidity meters differ by the type of light source they employ. The two types usually found are incandescent tungsten bulbs (white light) and infrared-LED bulbs. The Turbidity of a sample will increase with the amount of undissolved solids present.

What is high turbidity in water?

High turbidity means that the liquid is not very clear; low turbidity means that the liquid is clearer. Turbidity is caused by solid particles being suspended in a liquid. These particles scatter light, which can give the liquid a cloudy or murky appearance. Turbidity is often used to test water quality heuristically.

What is a high NTU?

NTU stands for Nephelometric Turbidity unit, i.e. the unit used to measure the turbidity of a fluid or the presence of suspended particles in water. The higher the concentration of suspended solids in the water is, the dirtier it looks and the higher the turbidity is.

Is low turbidity good?

The unit of measurement is called a Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU), which comes in several variations. The greater the scattering of light, the higher the turbidity. Low turbidity values indicate high water clarity; high values indicate low water clarity.

How much turbidity is bad?

According to the World Health Organization, water for human consumption should have turbidity levels below 1 NTU, though for some regions, up to 5 NTU is allowed if it can be proven to be disinfected 19,20.

On which scale turbidity is measured?

standard silica scale
The standard unit of Turbidity is Silica Turbidity Unit (STU) or Jackson’s turbidity unit (JTU). STU is measured on standard silica scale. On a standard silica scale, the permissible value of turbidity for drinking water is 10 ppm.