There are over 500 community gardens in the five boroughs that make up New York City. These community gardens provide residents and visitors with a place to enjoy the outdoors and in many circumstances, allow residents to grow crops in an urban garden.

Urban gardening has been a growing trend in New York and the tri-state area. These gardens are situated in existing open spaces and numerous individuals and community organizations have been converting abandoned lots for this purpose. These urban gardens provide fresh fruits and vegetables, while in some circumstances also removing urban blight.

While urban gardens are benefit to residents in many ways, in some instances these gardens could contain high levels of lead and other hazardous materials. Lead is a naturally occurring element, but in some urban environments it can be found in high concentrations in the soil. This is primarily due to its past use in lead-based paints that degraded over time and settled into the surrounding soil. Lead was also used in gasoline in the past and as auto emissions settled, it too could increase soil lead levels.

Although the use of lead has been dramatically reduced over the past several decades, the lead contamination that did occur persists in many areas. Urban gardeners are primarily at risk of lead exposure through the ingestion of contaminated soil and from breathing lead-tainted dust.

“In addition to lead exposure concerns, other heavy metals and potential chemical contaminants, such as PCBs, could also be present depending on past industrial uses of the land,” said Michael Berrevoets, President, VOETS, LLC. “For those planning to establish an urban garden, or already have one in place, it is a good idea to have the soil tested for these contaminants. At VOETS, we offer comprehensive soil testing services for lead and other heavy metals, PCBs, and other possible hazards. If contamination is found, the soil could be removed and replaced, or there are other gardening methods available, such as raised beds, that can help reduce human exposure risks to these substances.”

VOETS also recently sponsored an educational video about urban gardening and potential lead exposure concerns that can be seen at: https://youtu.be/xDO2Qp009ig