Toxic and genotoxic impacts of wastewater from various industrial establishments as well as water and bottom sediments from various water basins on plants test-organisms were ascertained. Phytotoxicity tests were performed on the following higher plants: great duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza (L) Schleid.), garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.), and spiderwort (Tradescantia clone 02). It was established that the toxicity of wastewater from the Ignalina NPP (which get into Lake Drūkšiai) was lower than the toxicity of wastewater from “Elnias” factory (after treatment). The obtained data showed that water from Lake Drūkšiai was nontoxic or slightly toxic to plants test-organisms, while the bottom sediments of the lake from the zone of the impact of the Ignalina NPP wastewater treatment plant and from the littoral and shoreline were highly toxic to the tested plants. Water and bottom sediments from Kiev water reservoir induced significant part of pink mutations of Tradescantia SH system. It was determined that the amount of pink mutations caused by these sediments was directly related to specific activity of 137Cs. Water and bottom sediments from the wastewater canals of the Ignalina NPP and from Lake Drūkšiai caused colourless and morphological mutations, and only a slight amount of pink mutations. The obtained data signify that the genotoxicity of water and bottom sediments from Kiev water reservoir was stipulated by radioactive waste; whereas, in Ignalina NPP canals and Lake Drūkšiai it depended more upon total impact of different toxic matters.
Keywords: ecotoxicology, test-organisms, mutations, Spirodela polyrhiza, Tradescantia, Lepidium sativum.