Settliing basin, removing sediment from intake water, can enhance the benefit of diversion works. In order to economize construction land as well as for agriculture ferterization purposes, it is impossible nor desireable to settle down all the inflow sediment. In stead, design of a settling basin is usually based on a prescribed trap efficiency. In this article, flume tests are performed and two type of settling are identified. Course particles settle first and form a progressing delta. Fine-particle siltation in the downstream backwater region is the other type. A new formula is proposed, which can estimate the effective traping capacity of a settling basin. By comparsion with other trap efficiency formulas, conclusion is made that particles with W_s/U_* value larger than 2 will sattle down totally in the settling basin and 100% removal. Different formulas, however, predict quite differently for the finer particles, especially for size between 0.1 and 0.05 mm, which is crucial in engineering aspects and worth in depth study.