Free Soil Testing Day
12 noon to 4 pm | Sunday, September 27th
Location: Swale House, Nolan Park, Governors Island, NYC
Come join USI at Swale House on Governors Island and get your soil screened for heavy metals using our state-of-the-art pXRF - completely free-of-charge!
Please check out our attached poster for more information.
For information on how to get to Governors Island, please click here!
How To Submit A Sample:
Gather a plastic bag with about a cup of soil from your yard or garden, surface to 4’’ depth works best. Please clearly identify the bag so you can find it. Maximum 3 samples per person – please do not take soil from Governors Island.
Bring your sample to our drop-off station, located on the porch at Swale House
We will test your sample for heavy metals content within 10 minutes and have it waiting for you on the porch at the pick-up table.
The sample will come with a results label and a pamphlet describing best practices.
Why Test Soil?
Great question! Soils are one of our most important resources, but in urban settings like NYC, they can easily become contaminated as a result of legacy industrial activity. The most common contaminants tend to be heavy metals such as lead or cadmium, which can cause negative health outcomes to folks who work and play in it. Fortunately, remediating soil contaminated with heavy metals can be easy, inexpensive and doesn’t require professional services. The tricky part is identifying heavy metal contamination, so we’ll help you with that! Our state-of-the-art handheld pXRF instrument quickly screens soil samples for heavy metals content, and lets you know whether remediation is recommended.