Can Reuse of Stormwater Detention Pond Water Meet Community Urban Agriculture Needs?

Urbanization and population growth in coastal communities increase demands on local food and water sectors. Due to this, urban communities are reimagining stormwater pond infrastructure, asking whether the stormwater can be used to irrigate food and grow fish for local consumption. Studies exploring this feasibility are limited in the literature. Driven by a community’s desire to co-locate community gardens with stormwater pond spaces, this research monitored the water quality of a 23.4-hectare stormwater pond located in East Tampa, Florida over one year using the grab sample technique and compared the results with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reuse recommendations, EPA national recommended water quality criteria for aquatic life, and human health. pH and conductivity levels were acceptable for irrigating crops. Heavy metal (arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc) concentrations were below the maximum recommended reuse levels (100, 10, 200, 5000 and 2000 µg/L, respectively), while zinc and lead were above the criteria for aquatic life (120 and 2.5 µg/L, respectively). E. coli concentrations ranged from 310 to greater than 200,000 MPN/100 mL, above the 0 CFU/100 mL irrigation requirements for raw food consumption and 200 CFU/100 mL requirements for commercial food processing. Synthetic organic compounds also exceeded criteria for human health.