GAO Bo 1, LI Qiang 1, 2, ZHOU Huai-dong 1, YIN Shu-hua 1

1. Department of Water Environment, IWHR, Beijing 100038, China;
2. North China College of Water Resources and Hydropower, Zhengzhou 450000, China

Abstract: The river sediment has a significant influence on the water environment and it is both the source and sink of the heavy metals in river environment. How to set up the sediment quality criteria (SQC) accurately and effectively is an urgent issue in the water environment research. The approaches to establishing the SQC have had a tremendous development during the past three decades. The authors introduced several popular methods of how to set up the proper SQC based on previous references and the newest researches. The authors analyzed the advantages and the disadvantages of the different methods. In addition, the authors also introduced two fashionable approaches in detail: equilibrium partitioning approach and biological effects database approach. Finally, the authors gave several useful suggestions based on the comparisons of different approaches. The suggestions are expected to be beneficial to framing the SQC appropriate for the current situation in China.

Key words: sediments, quality criteria, heavy metals, river

Published in: Journal of China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (Vol. 11 No. 2, 2013)