Water Treatment · Water Quality
What Is Turbidity in Drinking Water?
Turbidity tells us how cloudy water is, and it is one of the best checks on how well treatment is working.
A turbidimeter measures light scattered by particles and reports a number. Read turbidity by where it was taken. High raw-water turbidity, often after a storm, means a harder day for coagulation. High settled-water turbidity points to the coagulant dose or the floc. Rising filter-effluent turbidity is the one to act on fast, because the filter is the last barrier that removes particles before disinfection. Very small amounts can matter at a filter, so appearance alone is not enough. Dirty sample cells, air bubbles, scratches, or a poor sample can throw off a reading. Operators use clean cells, check the instrument, and record each result with its location and time.
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Introduction to Water Treatment Operations
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