Turbidity and suspended solids as affected by the sampling procedure under the same rainfall event in a water channel

When the embankments are bare, it leads to erosion of the top soil and exposes the subsoil. The subsoil is considered to have fragile structure which leads to the increased runoff that aids the sedimentation process which is considered among the major off-site effects of the soil erosion process that influences the water quality and the capacity of the stream channels. This paper comprises of a field study which was conducted on the roadside inclination with the gradient of 1 on 1.5. This study concerns about the comparison of turbidity and the presence of the suspended solids obtained from a bare surface which was monitored at different intervals of time under the same simulated rainfall condition of 52 mm/hour for which the rainfall data was obtained for the Perak state from Meteorological Department, Malaysia. A prominent difference was observed in the water quality and suspended solids depending on the way of collecting the water samples. The maximum turbidity and suspended particles obtained by disturbing the settled particles were 6000 (NTU), and 244.3 (mg/L) and for the undisturbed settled particles the maximum values were found to be 2585 (NTU), and 58.3 (mg/L).