The form in which a metal exists strongly influences its mobility and thus, the effects on the environment. Operational methods of speciation analysis, such as the use of sequential extraction procedures, are commonly applied. The Dongting Lake, the second largest fresh-water lake in China, contains three China wetlands of international importance, the East Dongting Lake, South Dongting Lake, and West Dongting Lake. In this work, an optimized BCR sequential extraction procedure was used to assess the environmental risk of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in contaminated sediment of the Dongting Lake. The procedure was evaluated by using a certified reference material, BCR701. The results of the partitioning study indicated that in the lake sediments, more easily mobilized forms (acid exchangeable) were predominant for Cd, particularly in the samples from the East Dongting Lake. In contrast, the largest amount of Pb was associated with the iron and manganese oxide fractions and Cu, Zn, Cr, and Ni analyzed were mainly distributed in residual phase at an average percentage greater than 60% of the total metals. The potential risk to the lake’s water contamination was highest in the East Dongting Lake based on the calculated contamination factors. On the other hand, the total metal content was determined as well by inductively coupled plasma and mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and assessed by using geo-accumulation index. The assessment results using geo-accumulation index were compared with the information on metal speciation. Both were correspondent with each other. The form in which a metal exists strongly affect its mobility and thus, the effects on the environment. Operational methods of speciation analysis, such as the use use of sequential extraction procedures, are commonly applied. The Dongting Lake, the second largest fresh-water lake in China, contains three China wetlands of international importance, the East Dongting Lake, South Dongting Lake, and West Dongting Lake. In this work, an optimized BCR sequential extraction procedure was used to assess the environmental risk of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni The results of the partitioning study study that in the lake sediments, more easily mobilized forms (acid exchangeable) were predominant for Cd , particularly in the samples from the East Dongting Lake. In contrast, the largest amount of Pb was associated with the iron and manganese oxide fractions and Cu, Zn, Cr, and Ni analyzed were mainly distributed in residual phase at an average percentage greater than 60% of the total metals. The potential risk to the lake’s water contamination was highest in the East Dongting Lake based on the calculated contamination factors. On the other hand, the total The content results were using geo-accumulation index. compared with the information on metal speciation. Both were correspondent with each other .