Biofilters for urban agriculture: Metal uptake of vegetables irrigated with stormwater

Abstract

In an era where increasing urbanization is resulting in issues such as urban poverty, malnutrition and unemployment, urban agriculture is increasingly regarded as a multi-functional approach to addressing these issues. However, increasing water scarcity limits the feasibility of urban agriculture and hence alternative water sources for irrigation are required. While stormwater has the potential to be used for urban agricultural irrigation, stormwater contaminants can pose potential health risks. Thus, a column study was conducted to (1) determine whether biofilters planted with vegetable crops are capable of treating urban stormwater, and (2) identify the level of heavy metal uptake into var..