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In the partitioning method, it is assumed that the:<br />

EFFECTS ASSESSMENT<br />

• sediment-dwelling organisms <strong>and</strong> water column organisms are equally sensitive to the<br />

chemical;<br />

• concentration of the substance in sediment, interstitial water <strong>and</strong> benthic organisms are at<br />

thermodynamic equilibrium: the concentration in any of these phases can be predicted using<br />

the appropriate partition coefficients;<br />

• sediment/water partition coefficients can either be measured or derived on the basis of a<br />

generic partition method from separately measurable characteristics of the sediment <strong>and</strong> the<br />

properties of the chemical. (For the derivation of the sediment-water partition coefficient<br />

<strong>and</strong> the limits of the calculation methods see Section 2.3.5).<br />

The following <strong>for</strong>mula, which is based on equilibrium partitioning theory, is applied:<br />

Explanation of symbols<br />

PNEC<br />

sed<br />

Ksusp−water<br />

= ⋅PNECwater ⋅1000<br />

RHO<br />

susp<br />

PNECwater Predicted No Effect Concentration in water [mg . l -1 ]<br />

RHOsusp bulk density of wet suspended matter [kg . m -3 ] eq. (18)<br />

Ksusp water partition coefficient suspended matter water [m 3. m -3 ] eq. (24)<br />

PNECsed Predicted No Effect Concentration in sediment [mg . kg -1 ]<br />

The following qualifying comments apply regardless of whether the Ksusp water is measured or<br />

estimated:<br />

• the <strong>for</strong>mula only considers uptake via the water phase. However, uptake may also occur via<br />

other exposure pathways like ingestion of sediment <strong>and</strong> direct contact with sediment. This<br />

may become important, especially <strong>for</strong> adsorbing chemicals, <strong>for</strong> example those with a log<br />

Kow greater than 3. For these compounds the total uptake may be underestimated;<br />

• there is evidence from studies in soil (Belfroid et al., 1995) that the proportion of the total dose<br />

remains low <strong>for</strong> chemicals with a log Kow up to 5. Although it is recognised that in principle<br />

results <strong>for</strong> the soil compartment may not be extrapolated to the sediment compartment, it is<br />

considered that the possible underestimation of exposure is acceptable when using the<br />

equilibrium partitioning method <strong>for</strong> chemicals with a log Kow between 3 <strong>and</strong> 5;<br />

• <strong>for</strong> compounds with a log Kow greater than 5 (or with a corresponding adsorption or binding<br />

behaviour, e.g. ionisable substances) the equilibrium method is used in a modified way.<br />

In order to take uptake via ingestion of sediment into account, the PECsed/PNECsed ratio is<br />

increased by a factor of 10. It should be borne in mind that this approach is considered only as a<br />

screen <strong>for</strong> assessing the level of risk to sediment dwelling organisms. If with this method a<br />

PEC/PNEC ratio > 1 is derived, then tests with benthic organisms using spiked sediment have to<br />

be conducted to support a refined risk assessment <strong>for</strong> the sediment compartment.<br />

(70)<br />

113

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