Water Quality Is a Poor Predictor of Recreational Hotspots in England.

ABSTRACT: Maintaining and improving water quality is key to the protection and restoration of aquatic ecosystems, which provide important benefits to society. In Europe, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) defines water quality based on a set of biological, hydro-morphological and chemical targets, and aims to reach good quality conditions in all river bodies by the year 2027. While recently it has been argued that achieving these goals will deliver and enhance ecosystem services, in particular recreational services, there is little empirical evidence demonstrating so. Here we test the hypothesis that good water quality is associated with increased utilization of recreational services, combining four surveys covering walking, boating, fishing and swimming visits, together with water quality data for

SUBMITTER: Ziv G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5119820 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature