New Orleans Takes Steps To Assess and Clean Lead in Playgrounds After Investigation

New Orleans plans to revamp the commission that oversees the city’s parks and playgrounds and is seeking $5 million in federal aid after an investigation published by Verite News and KFF Health News found high levels of lead contamination in the city’s playgrounds.

Mayor Helena Moreno signed an executive order April 7 creating a task force to improve the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission. One of the task force’s tasks will be to “examine and make recommendations regarding the costs and practicalities of implementing a program to assess and remediate safety and environmental problems at NORDC facilities and playgrounds, including the existence of lead in soil” and other environmental problems, according to the order.

About a week before Moreno signed that order, Health and Human Services Deputy Mayor Jennifer Avegno announced that city officials were working with the state’s congressional delegation to request $5 million in federal funds for the federal fiscal year that begins in October. That money would go toward testing and possible cleanup of playgrounds with elevated lead levels. She said her office also reviews old city records, works with the city’s in-house experts through the Planning Commission’s Brownfield program and reviews soil test results from Verite.

“We’re trying to figure out, with whatever funds we can get, how can we have a more lasting and more meaningful impact than we’ve been able to do in the past? Avegno said during an April 1 panel discussion on Verite’s lead contamination investigation.

In the investigation published in February, Verite journalists tested more than 80 playgrounds for lead and documented dangerous levels of the toxic metal in just over half of them. Since then, parents across the city have called the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission, their elected officials and other city offices to demand action.

But as the city grapples with a budget crisis, one neighborhood’s parents and community groups are taking action themselves. They are trying to raise $8,000 to hire a contractor to conduct extensive testing at the Mickey Markey Playground in the Bywater neighborhood, where Verite recorded lead samples exceeding the federal hazard level of 200 parts per million — one sample recorded at 403 parts per million.

“I’m aware of the city’s budgetary issues right now, and I’m also aware that repairing a playground in a neighborhood may not be a high priority,” said Devin DeWulf, a father of two who lives in Bywater and founded the Krewe of Red Beans, a community organization that helps with fundraising.

Lead contamination persists in New Orleans soil, older buildings, and drinking water, posing a significant threat to children’s public health. Children under the age of 6 can absorb the toxic metal more easily than adults, contaminating their blood and harming the long-term development of their brain and nervous system.

There is no known safe exposure level for children or adults. In children, even trace amounts can cause behavioral problems and decreased cognitive abilities. Chronic exposure to lead in adults can increase the risk of heart problems and other health problems.

Beyond the effects on a single child or family, Avegno said, lead exposure has long-term implications, including its potential link to an increase in violent crime, making the problem even more critical.

“We knew we had to exhaust every possibility,” she said.

Due to low testing rates, it is unclear how many children in New Orleans are exposed to lead. In 2023, only 17% of children were tested for lead poisoning in New Orleans, despite a state law that requires medical providers to test all children before the age of one and then again before the age of two. Currently, the state Department of Health does not have a mechanism to enforce the law.

Public health researchers recommend that parents avoid lead-contaminated playgrounds because it can be difficult to prevent young children from putting dirt in their mouths or breathing in dust kicked up during play.

Vann Joines, a Bywater neighborhood resident who often takes his 2-year-old daughter to the Mickey Markey Playground, is part of the group raising money to test the playground independently.

“It’s really important for us to be extremely mindful of public playgrounds and public parks,” Joines said.

DeWulf and Joines said they anticipate the work will take a few years and hope to create a manual that other districts can follow for their own playgrounds.

“We could create a practical guide for how we could do this effectively through partnerships in the city,” Joines said.

In addition to the $5 million the city requested for soil testing and possible remedial measures, Avegno said the city plans to apply for a grant to help address the early childhood education center problem.

“Your story came at an incredible time,” she told a Verite reporter.