The Healing City Soils project in Greater Victoria

With a rapidly shifting climate and a growing population, sustainable food production and urban agriculture will become increasingly important to feed residents of the island and elsewhere, and the basis of any agricultural venture is its soil.

Our team GVA (Greater Victoria Area) Soil Solutions, comprised of Katie Kapcsos, Kathleen Vasquez, Finn Elliot, Martyna Tomczynski and Jordi Fisher, is very excited to work with the Compost Education Centre on Healing City Soils.  Working at the intersection of land stewardship, urban agriculture, and environmental science since 2015, the program aims to reduce barriers to urban agriculture and to better understand the footprint of heavy metal contamination left in the Victoria area soils from a complex history of agricultural, industrial, and military use.

Through this program, urban gardeners of Greater Victoria are offered free soil testing for heavy metals, and the results are delivered in an easy to understand, jargon-free format, with resources and factsheets, included to aid those who may be growing food in contaminated soils. The results of each soil test are also placed on an interactive map of the region. 

To date, our team has constructed a sampling schedule, visited approximately 60 sites and taken over 120 samples. The bulk of these samples have been sieved and their pH and electrical conductivity measured, and x-ray fluorescence analysis for metals is underway. Upon completion of the metal analysis, sites of interest will be further investigated archivally to determine possible sources of contamination.