NY State Reopens Park as No Widespread Lead Contamination Found; Broader Testing Continues

New York state said a Wappingers Falls, N.Y., playground is safe to reopen after testing found no pattern of high lead in 25 samples at the site.

The state had temporarily closed the playground after a Wall Street Journal report last month showed several high lead readings at the park. Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York is continuing to investigate lead cables throughout the state.

The Journal reported that lead in the soil near a “Children at Play” sign measured more than 1,000 parts per million, based on tests by Jack Caravanos, an environmental public-health professor at New York University, who assisted the Journal in its research.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommendations for the levels of lead it believes are generally safe in soil where children play is 400 parts per million.

Caravanos took 209 samples at Wappingers Falls for the Journal, with lead readings ranging from a high of about 1,634 parts per million to a low of about 16 parts per million. Those samples were taken in April and July.

Hochul last month asked three state departments to “immediately investigate” lead cabling in New York, directing telecom providers to provide an inventory of all lead cable locations in the state.

The Journal’s investigation in July revealed that AT&T, Verizon Communications and other telecom companies have left behind more than 2,000 toxic lead cables on poles, under waterways and in the soil across the U.S. Testing by the Journal near such cables showed that dozens of spots registered lead levels exceeding EPA safety guidelines.

In response to the Journal’s reporting, AT&T and Verizon have said they don’t believe cables in their ownership are a public-health hazard or a major contributor to environmental lead. The companies said they are cooperating with the EPA, and USTelecom, an industry group, said it is engaging with policy makers “on this important matter to share relevant information as it becomes available.”

The EPA has sought data from Verizon on sites containing lead-sheathed cable, including at Wappingers Falls. Verizon didn’t immediately return calls for comment. Verizon previously said it remains “committed to the factual and scientific based analysis of the issues.” 

In a statement Tuesday, USTelecom said the industry puts a priority on “the health and safety of our communities and workers. We have not seen, nor have regulators identified, evidence that legacy lead-sheathed telecom cables are a leading cause of lead exposure or the cause of a public health issue.”

Hochul’s office said the state’s “scientific analysis found no evidence of elevated or widespread lead contamination in the area sampled. The multi-agency examination of the potential for lead-based telecommunication cables in New York State communities is ongoing.” 

Caravanos collected the data using an X-ray fluorescence analyzer, a device commonly used by the EPA and other researchers in field sampling. At the corner of the playground, the XRF showed lead in soil just under the cable at 850 parts per million, the Journal reported. 

New York said that it also used an XRF in initial testing in “multiple” spots and that it collected 25 separate soil samples on which it did laboratory analysis. The highest sample registered 410 parts per million, but wasn’t in the children’s play area. The state said its “comprehensive study was developed using scientifically acceptable federal and state protocols for environmental sampling of lead.”

Caravanos collected data on lead levels in the soil at 209 locations at the playground, with 34 of those tests exceeding 400 parts per million.  

Caravanos found a reading of 1,633.8 and a low reading of 24.3 in April. In July, the highest reading was 806.7, and the lowest was 15.8.

Caravanos said New York should consider “more testing and still demand that the cable comes down. It’s premature to open the playground without more investigation.” 

Caravanos noted that “lead release from the cables doesn’t fall uniformly across an area,” adding that samples taken even 2 inches apart can vary. “Unless we are testing side by side there is no fair way to compare their numbers with mine,” he said. 

Most of the testing by Caravanos and New York was done in a roughly 1-acre area of the park. 

New York said its samplings “suggest there is no evidence of significant exposure or public health risk for those utilizing the park. State agencies are coordinating with the Environmental Protection Agency.”

New York said in its report that “readings were also taken from areas directly underneath the telecommunication cable line as well as five and ten feet to the south of the line in the direction of the playground. None of these areas potentially influenced by lead in the telecommunications cables showed XRF results that differed markedly from background area readings.”   

At the park, about 60 miles north of New York City just off the Hudson River, an aerial lead cable hangs above the perimeter of the playground, which includes a jungle gym, a swing set and a basketball court.  

Write to Susan Pulliam at [email protected] and Coulter Jones at [email protected]