The Beaverton School District has recently completed testing all of the artificial turf athletic fields at Aloha, Beaverton, Southridge, Sunset and Westview High Schools. This action was taken in response to an advisory dated August, 2008 from the Oregon Public Health Division, regarding the safety of artificial turf fields. Tests performed by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission discovered the presence of lead in some artificial turf fields.
Beaverton contracted with an independent environmental consulting firm to conduct its tests according to the guidelines set forth in the letter from the Oregon Public Health Division. The consulting firm sampled pieces of the fields as well as the paints used on the field lines and borders.
All five high school field tests came back well below government-recommended standards of 0.5% lead detection. The District Maintenance Department will continue to monitor and re-test all artificial turf fields on an annual basis.
