| Stormwater management practices (SMPs) are important to the health of our watersheds because they provide opportunities for infiltration and pollutant removal of storm water. One type of SMP is a wet pond which is a surface landscape element with an open water component. The major purpose of a wet pond SMP as outlined in the New York State Manual for Stormwater Management Practices is to improve water quality while controlling quantity. But, many times these SMPs are not accepted or supported by the community. The United States Environmental Protection Agency anticipated this could be a problem to their success. They determined that if these controls incorporate elements that make them visually pleasing, they have a greater acceptance from the host community. Unfortunately, the list of guidelines on how to design the wet pond SMP does not include a criteria on how to create a beautiful pond landscape.; The first phase of this study was to develop design criteria regarding beauty and wetlands. Three wet pond SMPs located within a 20 mile radius of Brewster, New York, were photographed from several viewpoints. The design concepts of visual access and legibility, spatial enclosure, visual complexity, mystery, focal elements, and positive human presence were then incorporated into two views of each wet pond SMP utilizing digital photorealistic visual simulation techniques. Using a mixed methods research design, a survey was developed to assess the responses of a sample population of viewers to the visual quality of the wet pond SMPs as depicted in photographs of the unaltered site and in visual simulations of the same scenes prepared to represent the application of above mentioned design concepts. Fifty seven respondents answered a series of questions designed to determine what elements of each photograph influenced their assessment of its beauty and whether they would value that landscape as a part of their daily life. The results indicate that a wet pond SMP designed with beauty in mind can become a preferred water landscape and, therefore, may have a value to the host community which exceeds its stormwater treatment function.; Keywords. Stormwater management, wet pond stormwater management practice, SMP, wet pond SMP, runoff, design criteria, water landscape, and visual preference. |
