This assessment revealed some shortcomings in data and complementing monitoring needs in the estuaries of the Baltic Sea. For example, besides determining the total metal concentrations from water and sediment, itwould be advantageous to determine metal speciation since speciation affects metal toxicity (Gerhardt, 1993; Nystrand et al., 2012; Riba et al., 2003). It should also be noted that the exposure exists as multi-metal exposure in the studied estuary sites and separating individual metals for risk assessment is almost unfeasible since the exposure consists of multiple variables in nature and assessment of combined effects is commonly challenging. In overall, metals and low pH together have a negative impact on the benthic invertebrate community (Gerhardt, 1993). In our study the quality of benthic invertebrate community was generally deteriorated in the estuaries where the overall sediment and water quality exceeded guideline values.