Toxicological Benchmarks for Screening Potential Contaminants of Concern for Effects on Sediment-Associated Biota
A hazardous waste site may contain hundreds of chemicals; therefore, it is important to screen contaminants of potential concern for the ecological risk assessment. Often this screening is done as part of a screening assessment, the purpose of which is to evaluate the available data, identify data gaps, and screen contaminants of potential concern. Screening may be accomplished by using a set of toxicological benchmarks. These benchmarks are helpful in determining whether contaminants warrant further assessment or are at a level that requires no further attention. If a chemical concentration or the reported detection limit exceeds a proposed lower benchmark, further analysis is needed to determine the hazards posed by that chemical. If, however, the chemical concentration falls below the lower benchmark value, the chemical may be eliminated from further study. The use of multiple benchmarks is recommended for screening chemicals of concern in sediments. Integrative benchmarks developed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are included for inorganic and organic chemicals. Equilibrium partitioning benchmarks are included for screening nonionic organic chemicals. Freshwater sediment effect concentrations developed as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sediment Project are included for inorganic and organic chemicals (EPA 1996). Field survey benchmarks developed for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment are included for inorganic and organic chemicals. In addition, EPA-proposed sediment quality criteria are included along with screening values from EPA Region IV and Ecotox Threshold values from the EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. Pore water analysis is recommended for ionic organic compounds; comparisons are then made against water quality benchmarks. This report is an update of three prior reports (Jones et al. 1997; Jones et al. 1996; and Hull and Suter 1994). It contains new benchmarks for freshwater sediments, equilibrium partitioning benchmarks corrected to two significant figures, and all of the freshwater and estuarine benchmarks included in the previous version.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 814399
- Report Number(s):
- ES/ER/TM-95; TRN: US200317%%206
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Jan 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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