Mass balance models serve as a tool to understand and/or quantify the behavior and fate of chemical compounds in the environment, across different environmental compartments. These have as main purpose to obtain an overview and observation of the connections between different factors that impact the concentration, transport, and transformation of chemical compounds. The Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon and the Jacarepaguá lagoonal complex, in Rio de Janeiro, are coastal regions that function as accumulation basins, constantly suffering from problems related to pollution, as they are located in regions of high urbanization, demographic density and vehicles flow. Monitoring work carried out in the regions indicates that the lagoons have high concentrations of metals, which when released into the environment tend to be distributed and accumulated in different compartments, biotic and abiotic. These contaminants have environmental persistence, are often bioavailable in the aquatic compartment, and often lead to toxic effects, both for exposed biota and for humans. However, some regions are difficult to monitor due to logistical and financial issues, and the use of this type of modeling has been used as an interesting tool. In this context, the present work describes the results of the environmental modeling, having aquivalence as a balance criterion, in the analysis of the destination and transport of different metals in the two aforementioned regions, through the estimation and discussion of the flow rates, accumulation regions, local variations and degrees of complexity of the models. The results indicate that, in both cases, there was a good adjustment of the models to the local reality. In Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, the highest removal of metals occurred through air (89.88 per cent). Water and sediment (49.11 per cent) were the regions that most exchanged metals, with road dust also being and important source of exchange. Sediment, road dust, and direct emissions into aquatic environment contributed most significantly to the transport of metals into water (more than 75 per cent). In the Jacarepaguá lagoon, the highest metal removal occurred through air (49.36 per cent) and burial (28.42 per cent). Air (49.39 per cent) and water (44.68 per cent) advection were the major means of metal removal in the Tijuca lagoon, while in the Marapendi lagoon removal occurred almost exclusively through air advection. The advection in water and sediment were the main sources of metals for the waters of the Jacarepaguá and Tijuca lagoons, while the air was responsible for a large part of this contribution in the Marapendi lagoon, being justified by the spatial configuration of the lagoons and the assumptions adopted in the model. The regions with the greatest tendency for metal accumulation were sediment, soil and road dust. The greater degree of complexity of the model compared to a more simplified model and the greater quantity/reliability of the environmental data increased the accuracy of the model s predictions. These results certify the use of this type of modeling as an auxiliary tool in the control, classification and risk assessment, and decision-making by the competent agencies.