Abstract: Heavy metals are the important pollutants in sediments, which can cause serious damage to benthonic organisms and aquatic ecology, while biological effect database approach (BEDA) is a widely used method for assessing sediment quality in developed countries or regions. This paper introduced the concrete steps of this approach, and built the sediment quality criteria of five heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Ni) for  fresh waters. The comparability, reliability, and predictability of the criteria were also tested. It was shown that the threshold effect level (TEL) of the Cd, Ni, Pb, Zn, and Cu was 3.0, 31.4, 47.3, 74.9, and 45.5 mg·kg^-1 dry mass, and the probable effect level (PEL) of the Cd, Ni, Pb, Zn, and Cu was 19, 76.9, 204.1, 403.6, and 181.1 mg·kg^-1 dry mass basis, respectively. Except for Zn, the TEL and PEL for the Cu, Cd, Pb, and Ni were consistent with the definitional biological effect of the heavy metals, being accordance with the demands of sediment quality criteria for protecting benthic organisms and having high reliability, and thus, could be used as the proposed sediment quality criteria for  fresh waters in China.