Lead Concerns Forcing CCHS to Replace Artificial Turf Fields

Due to a higher lead count than originally agreed upon, Concord-Carlisle High School will have their two synthetic turf fields replaced this September, according to athletic director Barry Haley.

Sprinturf, a Pennsylvania-based artificial fields manufacturing company, originally installed the fields in the fall of 2008, but volunteered to replace them upon a recent private test that revealed lead levels to be higher than the company originally claimed.

While the amount of metal is not hazardous to students and athletes using the field, the original agreement of having very little to no lead is base of the issue.

"Testing levels were higher than they indicated they were, even though they were still well below the federal guidelines," Haley said, when reached by telephone earlier this week. "I think part of the concern is long term exposure, but we've had tremendous success with the fields these past two years. I don't think there's a health hazard for kids, but we must err on the side of caution."

The two fields are 80 by 120 yards lined end-to-end. They are used constantly by a number of different groups: the school's physical education classes take place on the fields each school day, boys' and girls' soccer, field hockey, cross country, boys' and girls' lacrosse, baseball, softball, youth lacrosse, Pop Warner football and adult league soccer. 

In the past two years, Haley says he hasn't had to cancel a single game due to the field being in poor shape. 

In 2008, the two fields' installation took six weeks to complete, so Haley expects each of the Sprinturf UltraBlade M/M fields to take approximately three weeks to replace the turf.  The project should be finished by mid-October, Haley said.

Practices for the fall sports season get under way later this month.

The installation should not affect the school's teams that have used them over the past two years to a great degree, but there will be some changes. While construction is taking place, the school will likely use the neighboring grass fields, which, according to Haley, are in serviceable shape due to their lack of recent use.

"The net result of having the (artificial) fields is all of the grass fields are not beaten from overuse, so they're really in great shape," he said. "Even with the drought issues we're facing.

"It's not the easiest thing to do to take one of those fields out of rotation of use but we'll deal with it.  The impact will be negligible."