Unued Suues                        Office of W.ter
            _       . _                      r.nfU'i                       October,
            Environmental Protection                 ^JW)
            Atocv		—	—	'	
            Fact Sheet
            Guidelines  for Deriving  Site-Specific Sediment

            Quality Criteria for the  Protection of Benthic

            Organisms

AUTHORITY

Sediment quality criteria are published pursuant to Section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act and
may form the basis for enforceable standards if adopted by a State into water quality
standards  The criteria reflect the latest scientific knowledge on the concentration of a
nomomc  organic contaminant that EPA has determined causes or has the potential to cause
adverse effects on  benthic organisms. They are developed using an approach described in
the "Technical Basis for Deriving Sediment Quality Criteria for Nomomc Organic
Contaminants for the Protection of Benthic Organisms by using Equilibrium Partitioning"
(EPA-822-R-93-011).

Under Section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act States may opt to develop site specific criteria
Replacement of national criteria with site-specific criteria may be necessary if (1) species at
the site are more or less sensitive than those included in the national criteria data set or (2)
the sediment or chemical quality characteristics at that site alter the bioavailabihty and
consequently the toxicity of the sediment bound chemical predicted by Equilibrium
Partitioning (EqP).

  AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENT

Copies of the guidelines document, and other referenced documents, may be obtained from
 the address below.

 Guidelines for Deriving Site-Specific  Sediment Quality Criteria for the Protection of
 Benthic Organisms, EPA-822-R-017

  Wafer Resource Center, (RC-4100)
  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
 401 M Street, S. W.
  Washington, D.C., 20460

  For further information  please  contact:    Ms. Mary C. Reiley
                                       U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                                       Office of Water
                                       Ecological Risk Assessment Branch (4304)
                                       401 M Street, SW
                                       Washington, DC 20460

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