Soil Quality Assessment Is a Necessary First Step for Designing Urban Green Infrastructure

Abstract

This paper describes the results of a preliminary project conducted by a team of DePaul University undergraduate students and staff from the Gary Comer Youth Center located on Chicago's South Side. The team assessed soil quality on 116 samples collected among four abandoned residential lots adjacent to the Comer Center. Soil quality data will be used in a follow-up study to determine the suitability of each lot for green infrastructure implementation. Green infrastructure may be a useful approach for providing ecosystem services and mitigating food deserts in inner-city communities. Soil quality on all lots was poor. All soils had pH >8.0, low biological activity, and low N mineralization potential. The soils were rich in available P and had mean total Pb concentrations above the USEPA threshold (400 mg kg) for children's playlots. Mean bioavailable Pb on the largest of the four lots was 12% of total Pb, indicating that most of the total Pb is not bioavailable. This result is encouraging because high bioavailable Pb concentrations are linked with negative health effects, particularly in children. All lots had NO-N concentrations below those considered to be appropriate for plant growth. On the other hand, no significant differences in mean concentrations of the other analytes were found. The poor soil quality in the four lots presents an opportunity to use green infrastructure to enhance ecosystem services, improve community and environmental health, and provide more equitable access to green space.

Digging to the Top(soil)

“…Byrne et al (2008) were careful to choose a site with known background before imposing urban restoration treatments, which enabled them to document differences in surface soil C, temperature, and earthworms as a result of restoration. Similar to the results of Montgomery et al (2016), this study highlights the importance of documenting soil profile characteristics at urban sites prior to initiating urban restoration efforts targeted at improving soil quality. Table 2.…”

A justification for continued management of turfgrass during economic contraction

“…Municipal turfgrass areas also serve as disposal sites for municipal waste. For example, effluent wastewater is used as an effective alternative to potable water to maintain turfgrass (Alshammary & Qian, 2008; Hayes, Mancino, & Pepper, 1990; Hyde, 1937; Mancino and Pepper, 1992; Miyamoto and Chacon, 2004; Riper and Geselbracht, 2020; Wang et al., 2014). Several cities actively promote mulching tree leaves and redistributing leaf mulch as a soil amendment that improves turfgrass health (City of Irving, 2020; City of Madison, 2020; City of Raleigh, 2020; Kowalewski et al., 2010).…”

Soil in the City: Sustainably Improving Urban Soils

“…The urban lots study of Montgomery et al (2016) and the citywide study of Delbecque and Verdoodt (2016) show that lead contamination of urban soils has been the result of anthropogenic activities, raising a major human health concern that may become a major obstacle for the adoption of urban agriculture in these contaminated soils. However, a critical review of both the direct (ingestion of contaminated soil) and indirect (consumption of food grown on lead contaminated soils) exposure pathways of lead conducted by Brown et al (2016a) shows that although high concentrations of total lead may be present in urban soils, it is highly unlikely that urban agriculture would result in elevated blood lead levels in children dwelling in the urban areas.…”

“…Montgomery et al (2016) present the results of a preliminary study conducted by a team of undergraduate students and community members to assess the soil quality of four abandoned residential lots located on the south side of Chicago with the aim of evaluating these vacant lots for appropriate land use, such as rain gardens, vegetable gardens, or playlots for children. All abandoned lots evaluated in this study exhibited the typical characteristics of an urban area in an industrial city and were littered with demolition debris, including glass, metal, bricks, concrete rubble, and other anthropogenic refuse.…”