Assessing urban impacted soil for urban gardening

The report provides a step-by-step summary of the guide and a description of a pilot study that was conducted in 2009 to assess the feasibility of the soil sampling guidance. [...] The report then discusses the expected outcomes of the application of the guide and the proposed next steps. [...] Appendix C provides a summary of the evidence informing each step of the guide and Appendix D describes the derivation of Soil Screening Values for urban gardening. [...] At the higher range of soil concentrations, Toronto Public Health has concerns about the public risks of gardening in these soils in the absence of measures to minimize their exposure to contaminants in the soil. [...] Assessing Urban Impacted Soil for Urban Gardening: Decision Support Tool Technical Report and Rationale iii Concern about contamination, the associated cost for the evaluation of site conditions and the implementation of typical risk management measures have been identified as a major barrier to meeting the demand of Toronto residents for more community gardens in Toronto (Boye, pers.comm.