| Abstract
| - The primary aim of the present investigation was to studypossible adverse effects of groundwater from an aquifersouth of Austria's capital, Vienna, and to relate thesetoxicological effects to routinely measuredphysical/chemicalparameters. Fourty-three water samples were testedforgenotoxic and ecotoxic effects. For genotoxicitytestingthe Salmonella/microsome assay, the micronucleustestwith primary rat hepatocytes and micronucleus tests withplants (Tradescantia, Vicia faba) wereused. In ecotoxicitytests, algae (Selenastrum capricornutum), water cress(Lepidium sativum), and water flea (Dapniamagna) werestudied as target organisms. In genotoxicity assays,10samples (23%) gave a weak positive response with a singleend point, but only one sample (2%) was genotoxic inthree different test systems. Thirty-six samples (86%)causedadverse effects in ecotoxicity assays. Plants (algaeandwater cress) were more sensitive than daphnie. Nocorrelations between toxic effects and physical/chemicalparameters were detected. The genotoxicityexperimentsindicate presently a low risk from genotoxic compounds.Theecotoxic (especially phytotoxic) properties of many watersamples raise concern about their suitability forirrigationpurposes. The lacking correlation between resultsfromtoxicity tests and physical/chemical data indicates that itispresently impossible to predict toxic properties fromroutinephysical/chemical measurements with a sufficient level ofsafety. It is therefore important to includebiologicaltoxicity assays in groundwater monitoring programs.
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