Turbidity is a measure of how much material is suspended or contained in a creek or body of water. The Mississippi River is a good example of turbid water. Turbidity is the measure of how much material is suspended in the body of water. Suspension is produced when the solid is dispersed throughout the water.
All bodies of water have turbidity to a certain extent, some more than other.
Some turbidity can have particles too small or very few particles to make turbidity hard to see with just the human eye. Some types of matter suspended in water are small pieces of soil, sewage, industrial waste, and microorganisms. Living organisms such as plants and animals add to the amount of turbidity in the water. Many human activities around bodies of water increase turbidity, such as people using water to dump garbage and to dispose of waste from sewage systems. Boats that might skim the bottom or the sides of waterways will cause more sediment in these waters.