Florida Turbidity Curtains
What is a Turbidity Curtain?
What is a Turbidity Curtain? Also referred to as a Turbidity Barrier, Silt Barrier, Silt Boom, or Silt Curtain, a Turbidity Curtain is a device designed to prevent sediment suspended in water from traveling beyond a designated area. A Turbidity Curtain, or turbidity barrier, is primarily employed as part of a construction project's sediment retention plan.
This application is utilizing a floating turbidity curtain to help contain construction site runoff into the canal
How does Turbidity of Water at a construction site affect our environment?
In this instance, the term Turbidity refers directly to the cloudiness of the water due to suspended particles of sediment or silt. Anytime the land is disturbed on a construction jobsite, in or near bodies of water, there is the potential for runoff to carry those disturbed soils and sediments into the water. If the suspended silt is allowed to travel away and eventually settle out, the accumulation of new sediment can have a devastating effect on sensitive habitats and even create problems for human infrastructure.
Looking at the picture above, you can see how the work being done on this jobsite has caused sediment, or silt, to escape into the adjacent body of water, increasing the turbidity of the water relative to the normal baseline levels.
Utilizing a Turbidity Curtain, the jobsite has created a barrier which will allow the suspended silt time to settle to the bottom.
