Appearance’s Aesthetic Appreciation to Inform Water Quality Management of Waterscapes

摘要

style="text-align:justify;"> The appearance of the water is just one aspect of a waterscape that can be appreciated aesthetically. Water appearance is affected by water clarity and water colour. Here, an aesthetic assessment model of waterscape was suggested. In the model, water clarity and colour have direct effects, whereas water quality and phytoplankton biomass have indirect effects, on tourists’ aesthetic assessment of water bodies. The preferred water colour is aquamarine to blue, regardless of depth of clarity. Water colour ranges from pastel yellow to yellow-green are not favoured by tourists. Four water-quality parameters were correlated with water clarity and phytoplankton biomass. The coefficient of indirect effect of river pollution index on tourists’ aesthetic valuation of aquamarine to blue water colour was -0.457, and for pastel yellow to yellowgreen, it was -0.209. The research results showed observation of water colour could not only reflect waterscape aesthetic value, but also serve as a guide of judging water quality, and the status of phytoplankton benefited to simplify the process of water-quality management for waterscape.