Аңдатпа
Spring waters, as natural discharges of groundwater to the surface, are an essential component of thenatural environment. Spring water is considered by nature to be exceptionally pure, transparent, tasty,and balanced in its chemical composition, which makes it attractive to humans. However, the quality ofspring water in urban areas has deteriorated significantly due to the high risk of chemical and bacterialcontaminants entering groundwater. Therefore, studies were carried out of spring waters, actively consumed by the population of Almaty, for toxic and mutagenic activity. Spring 1 is located near the riverProhodnaya, bus stop number 28; spring 2 – on the road to the Big Almaty Lake, in front of the bridgeover the river Ulken Almaty; spring 3 – near the river Batareika on the road to Kok-Zhailau; spring 4 –at the Prosveshchenets stop on the road to Medeu. The excess of MPC for lead in the water of springs1, 3, and 4 has been established. Following the established MPC for heavy metals, water from spring 2belongs to quality class 1 and is suitable for all types of water use; water from springs 1, 3 and 4 belongsto quality class 2. The waters of this water use’ class are suitable for all categories of water use, except fordomestic. A bioluminescent test revealed high toxicity of spring waters 1-3, which significantly reducedthe bioluminescent response of RecA and ColD biosensors (p <0.05). In the Allium test, the water of allthe springs have phytotoxic activity, water from springs 1 and 3 also have a genotoxic effect. In the chromosomal aberration assay in H. vulgare, it was found that the water of spring-3 had a mutagenic activity.There was a statistically significant increase in the frequency of chromosomal aberrations in barley seeds(p <0.01). The remaining studied waters also increased the frequency of aberrant cells compared withthe control; however, the difference was not statistically significant. Besides, polyploid cells (more than1.5%) were identified with high frequency in the root meristem of barley seeds germinated in water fromsprings 1 and 3. The research indicates the presence of mutagenic factors in the waters of these springs.A comparative analysis of the level of contamination of the studied springs with heavy metals, the levelof toxic and mutagenic activity of water allows ranking the investigated water objects in the followingorder: spring 3> spring 1> spring 2> spring 4.Key words: spring water, toxicity, mutagenicity, biosensor strains, heavy metals.