Lead Found In Turf At Two Popular Texas High School Stadiums
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Lead Found In Turf At Two Popular Texas High School Stadiums
Tests have turned up high lead levels in the artificial turf at two storied Texas high school football stadiums and several Central Texas stadiums have the same brand.
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(December 18, 2008)—Tests show lead levels exceeding Environmental Protection Agency standards for soil in the artificial turf of two storied Texas high school football stadiums and several Central Texas stadiums have the same brand.

The Associated Press reports that testing commissioned by the Ector County school district on the turf at Odessa's Ratliff Stadium found lead at roughly 14 times the EPA standard.

Ratliff Stadium is home of the Permian Panthers, which is the team profiled in the book and movie "Friday Night Lights."

Similar testing by the Birdville school district in North Richland Hills revealed a lead level nearly 10 times the EPA standard at the Fine Arts/Athletics Complex.

The AP reported that both stadiums have the same brand of turf, called AstroPlay.

The 14,000-seat Waco ISD stadium has AstroPlay turf, and the Killeen Daily Herald reports that both the KISD’s Leo Buckley Stadium and Copperas Cove’s Bulldawg Stadium have the same brand, as well.

The high lead levels were found in a secondary layer of nylon fiber at the base of the fields called the "root zone."

Neither test found significant lead levels in the uppermost fibers, the portion of the field that athletes are in contact with most often, but testing at the Birdville stadium also found about twice the EPA limit for lead in drinking water in the runoff from the field.

Birdville Associated superintendent Quentin Burnett says he and other officials are attempting to learn whether the turf, installed five years ago, can still be safely used.

David Finley with the Ector County school district says the district sees no immediate cause for concern.

For the time being, he said, it will continue monitoring the field, also five years old.

The lead in artificial turf comes from lead chromate, which until recently was widely used in the pigment that colors the nylon or polyethylene fibers.

The AP reports AstroPlay was the major "infill" product manufactured by Southwest Recreational Industries of Leander, which went out of business in 2004.

The company patented the "root zone" and marketed it as a unique feature for stabilizing the rubber granules.


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