Criteria for evaluating the reliability of literature data on environmental process constants

Abstract

In the assessment of health risk from pollutant exposure, it is important for the modeler to know the degree of confidence he/she can have in literature values that are needed for estimating the fate of toxic substances in the environment. Since literature values, in general, are of unknown reliability, evaluation criteria were developed for twelve rate and equilibrium constants used in environmental modeling. The evaluation criteria also can be used to assess the reliability of literature values for other properties.