Soil testing for lead in five Durham parks was conducted last summer. This site is at East Durham Park, 2500 E. Main St., near many homes. (Photo: Lisa Sorg)
The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality will help clean up lead-contaminated areas in five Durham parks, city officials announced this week.
The parks — Walltown, Lyon, East End, East Durham and Northgate — have qualified for the state’s Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program, which was established to remediate land where municipal solid waste disposal occurred before Jan. 1, 1983. Many of the cleanups are targeted at landfills, which were not required to be lined until after that date. However, other areas that received the city waste also qualify. Local governments can receive technical assistance, reimbursements, other state funding.
There are 650 sites enrolled in the program, and each is prioritized based on risk level to human health.
As NC Newsline reported in June, soil at four of the five targeted Durham parks contain levels of lead as much as six times the EPA hazard threshold for play areas, a Duke University study found. But the university and the Durham Parks and Recreation Department sat on the findings for months, sharing them in late May only after a Walltown resident stumbled upon the research paper online. Independent testing paid for by the city confirmed and expanded on the initial findings.
The source of the lead was old municipal incinerators that operated on those sites until the 1950s, when they were dismantled. The property then became parkland. Areas in Walltown and East Durham parks contain the highest levels of lead, as much as eight times the EPA maximum for playgrounds. Northgate Park did not have an incinerator, but waste was disposed there.
The city has fenced off all affected areas in the parks and posted signs warning of the lead contamination.
Lead is a neurotoxin. Chronic exposure can cause permanent neurological and brain damage in children, who are especially vulnerable because they spend time outdoors and often put their hands in their mouths. Adults with high blood levels of lead can suffer from brain, kidney, heart and reproductive disorders.
Over the next two months, representatives from the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program will complete additional research and surveying at these five parks which will allow them to prioritize each location, according city officials.
They will review these five parks for several characteristics, including the number of potable drinking wells on-site or within 1,000 feet of contamination, and schools and churches on-site or within that same distance.
Since the parks are in the city limits, it’s unlikely there are private drinking water wells nearby. However, many of the parks are near churches, homes and schools. Both Walltown and Lyon parks have community centers, as well. In East Durham, an apartment complex sits just feet from a contaminated area.
Once NCDEQ determines the prioritization, the city and the agency will hold public meetings to discuss several aspects of the cleanup:
- An overview of the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program and how NCDEQ can assist.
- The ranking of each park in the statewide program
- Short- and long-term solutions
These areas of Durham are already in DEQ’s Pre-Regulatory Landfill program. Five city parks are expected to be added to the list. (Map: DEQ)
Durham already has six sites in the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program, state records show:
- Durham County Landfill, 1245 Wren Road
- Mitchell Farm, Cheek Road
- Durham County Disposal Area, 1833 Camden Ave.
- Old Durham County Landfill, Electra Road, near Falls Lake
- Rocky Knoll School site, Benbow Road
- Marbery site, Benbow Road
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