QUESTION FAKE GRASS in LGUSD.

Want to conserve water?  Don't send rain down the storm drain and away from Los Gatos.  Keep it here.  Use it!  Recharge Los Gatos groundwater and raise the water table to help maintain reserves that can help us manage drought. ONE of the many ecological issues with artificial turf is how it impacts our local stormwater runoff.   If instead of nurturing healthy soils to absorb rain like a sponge, LGUSD installs p lastic grass, stormwater runoff will increase from LGUSD campuses into Los Gatos Creek and the San Francisco Bay. Not only does plastic grass send away precious rainwater, that water drags pollutants into the watershed with it.  These pollutants include: chemicals in the artificial turf system ( PFAS possibly being one of them) as the plastic breaks down under heat and UV exposure.   chemicals applied to plastic grass such as:  solvents and cleaners (to remove baked on spills and animal droppings),  anti-statics (to minimize infill...

Image from  safehealthyplayingfields.org Note that this post focuses on crumb rubber infill, one of the most commonly used infills in artificial turf systems.  Fortunately, crumb rubber is NOT being considered a candidate for the infill of artificial turf used in LGUSD .  However, crumb rubber IS used at LGHS and likely in our town's Creekside Park where many of our Los Gatos kids play sports. Safe Healthy Playing Fields, Inc. questions whether letting kids play on artificial turf constitutes a human health experiment on kids. David R Brown Sc.D.  makes the case in this article that there is " A basis for concern and an urgent need for closer scrutiny". David is: a public health toxicologist Director of Public Health Toxicology for Environment and Human Health, Inc.  past Chief of Environmental Epidemiology and Occupational Health at Connecticut's Department of Health  past Deputy Director of The Public Health Practice Group of ATSDR at the National Center...

Image from ehhi.org's  synthetic turf report . Most synthetic turf fields are made of plastic grass infilled with shredded waste tires known as “crumb rubber.”   Environment & Human Health, Inc.   has produced this easily-digestible brochure on " 12 Reasons Why Synthetic Turf Fields Pose a Health Risk ".

Image from ehhi.org's synthetic turf report . There are a host of concerns with artificial turf systems that are filled with (those annoying black) crumbs from recycled rubber tires .  Early in the planning stages of landscape design, LGUSD wisely ruled out crumb rubber as a possible infill choice.  Perhaps we have LGUSD's landscape architect, Verde Design, to thank for this.  Verde Design's architect referred to the crumb rubber infill as carcinogenic at the 11/18/21 LGUSD board meeting.  (Curiously though, crumb rubber appears to be what is in installed at Los Gatos High School fields, projects Verde Design had a hand in.) 👏 👏 👏 While LGUSD appears to have dodged this bullet, issues with crumb rubber infill should be considered when the fields at Creekside and LGHS come due for renovation.   And if your child currently uses fields at  Creekside or LGHS   regularly, proceed with caution.  Watch this and then read on... In February 2016, the ...

Image from report by EWG.org " PFAS Contamination of Drinking Water Far More Prevalent Than Previously Reported " Wind and rain blow or wash pollutants off hard surfaces like streets, parking lots, sidewalks, and artificial turf systems into storm drains that flow untreated directly into our creeks and waterways. In LGUSD's proposed artificial turf "fields", water will rinse the chemicals off the weathered and worn plastic blades of "grass" as well as off the perforated carpet backing and perforated shockpad beneath. The chemicals will be rinsed into drainage pipes that flow directly to storm drains . Why wouldn't PFAS forever chemicals, lead, infill, plastic grass blades, microplastics, cleaning chemicals, and weedkillers be carried by rainwater and sprinkler runoff from local artificial turf systems into the surrounding storm drains that flow into Los Gatos Creek? Even David Teter acknowledged at our Town Hall meeting the greater volume ...