Urban Community Gardeners' Knowledge and Perceptions of Soil Contaminant Risks

Abstract

Although urban community gardening can offer health, social, environmental, and economic benefits, these benefits must be weighed against the potential health risks stemming from exposure to contaminants such as heavy metals and organic chemicals that may be present in urban soils. Individuals who garden at or eat food grown in contaminated urban garden sites may be at risk of exposure to such contaminants. Gardeners may be unaware of these risks and how to manage them. We used a mixed quantitative/qualitative research approach to characterize urban community gardeners' knowledge and perceptions of risks related to soil contaminant exposure. We conducted surveys with 70 gardeners from 15 community gardens in Baltimore, Maryland, and semi-structured interviews with 18 key informants knowledgeable about community gardening and soil contamination in Baltimore. We identified a range of factors, challenges, and needs related to Baltimore community gardeners' perceptions of risk related to soil contamination, including low levels of concern and inconsistent levels of knowledge about heavy metal and organic chemical contaminants, barriers to investigating a garden site's history and conducting soil tests, limited knowledge of best practices for reducing exposure, and a need for clear and concise information on how best to prevent and manage soil contamination. Key informants discussed various strategies for developing and disseminating educational materials to gardeners. For some challenges, such as barriers to conducting site history and soil tests, some informants recommended city-wide interventions that bypass the need for gardener knowledge altogether.

Growing an Urban Oasis: A Qualitative Study of the Perceived Benefits of Community Gardening inBaltimore,Maryland

“…Concerns about potential soil contamination can be alleviated through guidance on soil testing, remediation, and safe gardening practices (Kim et al. ). Municipal governments can demonstrate their support for community gardens by providing them access to a convenient water source, as is already occurring in Baltimore, as well as by granting long‐term leases to groups that demonstrate a commitment to maintaining their garden over time.…”

Raised Beds for Vegetable Production in Urban Agriculture

“…One of the biggest obstacles to realizing these benefits of urban agriculture is soil contamination, which is concerning due to potential deposition and bioaccumulation of contaminants on or within crops (e.g., heavy metals) and potential inhalation or ingestion of contaminated soil particles by the grower and consumer (e.g., organic compounds and heavy metals; Madrid et al, 2008). Soil contamination can often be traced to anthropogenic sources including industrial processes (Howard and Shuster, 2015; Kim et al, 2014; Schuhmacher et al, 1997) and automobile traffic emissions (Kim et al, 2014). Common urban soil contaminants include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Motelay‐Massei et al, 2004) and trace metals such as cadmium (Smolders, 2001), arsenic (Ramirez‐Andreotta et al, 2013), and lead (Binns et al, 2004; Zhu et al, 2004).…”

The impractical supremacy of local identity on the worthless soils of Mappano

“…Normally, in these societies, people are aware of changes in the surface layers of soils that are due to anthropogenic activities or environmental changes. Members of the most developed societies have a perception of soil that is limited to its direct effects on human health (Kim et al 2014;Quansah et al 2001;Vandermoere 2006); the perception of soil is the perception of risk rather than the potential of the soil itself (Vandermoere 2008).…”