4.3. WoE approach
ThisWoE approach indicated that metals and acidity can have longterm effects on the ASS affected estuaries. Several LoE suggest that good ecological and chemical status is not attained in most of the studied estuaries. Strongest evidence came from exposure profiles while results of acute and chronic toxicity tests provided somewhat inconsistent evidence. Uncertainties in the used WoE approach arose from limited data available for site specific risk assessment. The risk assessment was partly time-conditional, since the sediment sampleswere collected only once during summer 2010. The observation interval for water quality was 19 months (3/2009–9/2010), but the BBI expressed the quality of benthic invertebrate community over several years and can therefore be taken as the most distinct evidence on the long-term negative effects of ASSs in the estuaries.