Quantification of the term "objectionable" as applied to colorants in natural waterways

Abstract

A basis was sought "for determining a method for relating judgments of the objectionableness of colorants in natural waters to a measurable scale of color differences. Twenty Ss observed a simulated natural stream as it was gradually changed in color by the addition of each of six different colorants. Every S indicated when the color of the stream became objectionable for each of the colorants… . The major conclusion… was that the term "objectionable" as it applies to colored wastes in streams can be quantified… . An inference was made that the normal curve can be employed to determine color differences which will be objectionable to certain percentages of a population which is in contact with a particular stream." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)