Sediment Concentration Measurement

Abstract

Sydney Harbour is an important port and receational region for the City of Sydney. A study of water clarity is reported here. Water turbidity is influenced by the urban and industrial wastes that drain from the watershed and the flushing of the estuary by clear oceanic water. In order to contrast the imaging of objects underwater by light or sound, it is necessary to understand the role played by the scatterers in the water that cause turbidity. Using five reference sites, the grain size, the number of grains per litre and the turbidity have been compared before and after rain. Three Sydney area estuaries hve been observed to have similar turbidity increases with increasing distance from the sea.