Evaluatie van door het RIVM gehanteerde partitiecoefficienten voor metalen

At the National Institute of Public Health and Environment (RIVM) partition coefficients or relations between the contents of trace metals and metalloids in the solid and solution phase, are commonly used for various type of research, e.g. derivation of toxicological risk levels and assessment of transport and accumulation in soils and surface waters. The partition behaviour of metals is complex and application of derived partition coefficients is subject to series of conditions. At the RIVM over 15 sets of partition coefficients have been used in the recent past for various applications. The background and the values of these partition coefficients sometimes showed large imcompatibilities. These incompatibilities may lead to inconsistencies and systematic errors in research results. A critical evaluation of the partition sets led to the conclusion that for the soil compartment the available partition sets are not always suitable for application for Dutch environmental conditions. It was recommended that the total number of 10 soil sets needs to be brought back to 1 or 2, concentrating on Dutch field data, and taking into account at least the effects of pH, CEC and concentration level. For sediment there is a serious lack of good partition data. It was recommended to start new experimental research on sediments, in part motivated by the increasing environmental problems associated with mobilization and leaching of metals from dredged material