These benchmarks, derived by the EPA’s Southeastern region, are criteria or test endpoints divided by a factor of 10. The Region IV surface water screening values were obtained from Water Quality Criteria documents and represent the chronic ambient water quality criteria values for the protection of aquatic life. They are intended to protect 95% of the species, 95% of the time. If there was insufficient information available to derive a criterion, the lowest reported effect level was used with the application of a safety factor of ten to protect for a more sensitive species. A safety factor of ten was also used to derive a chronic value if only acute information was available. Since these numbers are based on conservative endpoints and sensitive ecological effects data, they represent a preliminary screening of site contaminant levels to determine if there is a need to conduct further investigations at the site. Note that equations for hardness dependent metals do not match those in EPA (2002). See http://www.epa.gov/region04/waste/ots/ecolbul.htm#tbl1.