T. Crommentuijn et al., Maximum permissible and negligible concentrations for metals and metalloids in the Netherlands, taking into account background concentrations, J ENVIR MGM, 60(2), 2000, pp. 121-143
The aim of the paper is to provide interested parties the methods that were
used for generic hazard assessment in The Netherlands, and the resulting s
o-called Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MPCs) and the Negligible Conce
ntrations (NCs) for 18 metals and metalloids, The MPCs and NCs were derived
for wafer, sediment, soil and air. The concentration in the environment ab
ove which the risk of adverse effects was considered unacceptable to ecosys
tems is called the MPC. The MPCs take into account that the substances are
distributed among the different environmental compartments, and are harmoni
sed accordingly, included in the MPC and NC are existing background concent
rations in The Netherlands following the so-called 'added risk approach: Th
e MPCs served as a basis for the Dutch government to set generic Environmen
tal Quality Standards (EQS) in The Netherlands. EQS in turn are used by the
Dutch Government to assess the environmental qualify and for other environ
mental policy purposes.
Depending on the number of ecotoxicological data, the reliability of the MP
Cs differed. For water only, MPCs were based on sufficient data, but for th
e other compartments, there is a great demand for further ecotoxicity data.
For soil and sediment, almost no ecotoxicological data were available, and
MPCs for those compartments have, in many cases, been derived from MPCs in
water applying a modified equilibrium partitioning method (modified EqP-me
thod), resulting in MPCs with greater uncertainty
Some of the methods and underlying assumptions that have been used may warr
ant further discussion. For example, the lack of data, the factor 100 betwe
en MPC and NC, the background concentration, the essential elements, the mo
dified EqP-method and bioavailability, speciation and water chemistry, acid
volatile sulfide, and the method that is used for harmonising MPCs for air
.
Interested parties may use the information and methods on the MPCs and NCs
as a general guideline for deriving generic environmental quality standards
. (C) 2000 Academic Press.