I have banana plants in my back yard, one of which has produced a nice heart. The bananas should be ripe in a month or so. My house and yard were flooded by Harvey. The category 3 floodwater that inundated my house and yard included stuff from multiple sewage plants upstream that were overtopped and possibly from two EPA superfund sites.
Will my bananas be safe to eat? If not, will next year's bananas be safe to eat, or should I just cut them all down?
Pathogenic e-coli are known to be able to reach the tissue of some vegetable plants which is why it's not recommended to use raw manure as a fertiliser, but I'm not aware that anyone has ever detected pathogenic bacteria getting into the roots of trees and making their way into fruit. They might get blown onto the skin so one might wash the fruits after picking them.
https://inspectapedia.com/septic/Septic_Food_Contamination.php
I would not be concerned about the bacteria absorbed by the plant but rather any solvents, petroleum or heavy metal contamination that might have occurred in the water and then absorbed into the plant. Since it's not a huge crop of bananas, I would not be so concerned and if the plant and fruit did absorb some quantity of bad stuff, it won't kill you or make you sick from a one time use (at least short term). I would not eat crops irrigated regularly with contaminated water. Wash the fruit off well and enjoy.
