Riverbed Soil?

[Justine]

My father just built me a great oversized planter. I plan on putting tomatoes, peppers and some cukes with some marigolds to help with bugs. He suggested to me to use the soil right here from our river. But I wonder. We live in WV, and there is a great deal of farm run-off from further west, upstream. Knowing that this soil is indeed rich in some nutrients, is it safe to use for food-growing? Are there metals that are dangerously high in this type of soil?
Thanks!

[soilman]

Hard to say. Riverbed silt has traditionally been used to improve soil, but the farm run-off problem -- it is hard to say what's in it. I'd prefer to stick to a fairly clean river.