The water surface color could be a key parameter for evaluation of mud percentage of water. By analyzing the captured color using image processing tools you can create a predictive algorithm.
About 30 years ago I had the successful experience of monitoring of water basins surfaces, contaminated with oil, gasolie etc. It was done by thermal imager located on the board of small aircraft. The temperature of the contaminated stain surface is higher than the temperature of pure water surface due to the absence of evaporation from stain. That is why the contaminated area could be easily detected by thermal imager. Novadays this technology is much more effective due to application of UAV and GPS.
The water surface color could be a key parameter for evaluation of mud percentage of water. By analyzing the captured color using image processing tools you can create a predictive algorithm.