Water Quality – Turbidity

Freshwater, in sufficient quantity and quality, is essential for all aspects of life and fundamental to sustainable development. Turbidity is an indicator of water clarity, quantifying the haziness of the water and acting as an indicator of underwater light availability. Light penetration may or may not be sufficient to support the growth of aquatic plants and adversely affect fish and shellfish populations. This parameter may be used to infer a particular state, or quality, of a freshwater body (lake, wetland or river). Mangroves, for instance, are known to reduce the turbidity of waters. A five year baseline (2006-2010), per lake, has been produced. The maps depicts mean deviations (classified from low to extreme) of turbidity in recent years (2017-2019) compared to the individual lake baseline measurements.