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NEW Screening Quick Reference Tables (SQuiRTs)
NOAA has made major upgrades to the Screening Quick Reference Tables, or SQuiRTs. This handy reference tool presents screening concentrations for inorganic and organic contaminants in various environmental media. The SQuiRTs also include guidelines for preserving samples and for analytical technique options.
We've designed the SQuiRTs as a set of double-sided, color cards, organized into the following sections:
- Inorganics in Freshwater and Marine Sediment;
- Inorganics in soil;
- Inorganics in Water (groundwater and surface water);
- Organics in Sediment;
- Organics in Water and Soils;
- Analytical Methods for Inorganics;
- Analytical Methods for Organics; plus,
- Guidelines for Sample Collection & Storage;
new topics include:
- PCB Composition;
- Toxic Equivalency Factors; and,
- Carbon Range of Hydrocarbon Products
The SQuiRT cards were developed for preliminary screening. NOAA identifies potential impacts to coastal resources and habitats potentially affected by hazardous waste sites. The SQuiRT cards also will be helpful to anyone who is evaluating the potential risk from contaminated water, sediment, or soil.
What's New?
The SQuiRT card set expanded substantially with new content. Not only are new topics or resources offered, but the range of benchmarks vastly expanded.
Documentation has been expanded within the SQuiRT cards, but this also includes links to more detailed explanations on the web and to web-based sources. These changes mandated major revisions to the layout of the cards themselves as well.
Additions and enhancements include:
• New reference cards on:
PCB Composition,
Toxicity Equivalency Factors for dioxin-like compounds, and
Carbon ranges of hydrocarbon products;
• Numerous new benchmarks for soil toxicity;
• An expanded suite of sediment benchmarks
• Additional sources for groundwater/drinking water guidelines
• Additional sources for surface water guidelines
The expansion of sources also resulted in a vast increase in the number of analytes for which benchmarks are presented; for example, the number of organic compounds has tripled. This necessitated an alphabetical listing of analytes. Searching by CAS codes is encouraged as a way to find particular compounds.
Disclaimer
The SQuiRT cards are intended for preliminary screening purposes only: they do not represent official NOAA policy and do not constitute criteria or clean-up levels. NOAA does not endorse their use for any purpose other than preliminary screening. Many of the benchmarks presented were originally published with similar caveats.
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