AUSD staff, the architects, and the field design team are aware of the concerns that have been raised about synthetic turf in the past, and these concerns were discussed at length during our planning meetings with the schools’ athletic communities. However, the artificial turf industry has made substantial advancements in recent years, including:
- Creating a stabilizing and cushioning layer made of sand and crushed olive pits (rather than rubber and/or recycled tires)
- Using a type of plastic for the blades of “grass” that lasts longer and can be recycled into other products when it is time to replace them
- Lowering the amounts of "forever plastics" in synthetic turf.
It is important to note that of the more than 10,000 chemicals that can be identified as "PFAFs," only 30 have been identified as posing potential health concerns. The manufacturer chosen to provide turf for the new Encinal field has noted that its products have trace amounts of PFAFs, and that:
- None of the PFAFs in its products are on the EPA's "Hazardous Constituent list"
- All of the levels of those PFAFs are below the limits for soil
Synthetic turf also provides several environmental benefits over grass, including:
- Eliminating the need for fertilizers, which are bad for the environment
- Eliminating the need for irrigation, which will save hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per year
- Eliminating the need to mow, which which will reduce our C02 emissions
A turf field also confers health and safety benefits, including:
- Reduced goose feces on the fields, which has caused slipping and bacterial hazards for years
- Elimination of rodent holes, which cause players to trip and fall
- Less mud on the field, especially in the spring, which is also a slipping and falling hazard
Finally, operationally, having a synthetic field will allow AUSD to run athletic seasons back-to-back without having to either institute a pause to repair the field or force students to play on a degraded field. Currently the damage done to AUSD's athletic fields during the fall football season cannot be repaired before winter soccer season. This results in poor conditions for our soccer teams.
