Prospect Park Lead Levels Exceed State Health Standards: Report

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — The dirt in Prospect Park's western corner has the highest lead levels of any park tested in a WNYC analysis released this week.

The dirt surrounding the Prospect Park bandshell — where families often come to sit and enjoy summer concerts — clocked in with lead levels at 543 parts per million, well above the New York State safety benchmark set at 400 ppm, according to the WNYC report, "Lead In The Land."

The report notes the Center for Disease Control believes no amount of lead can be considered safe and California has lowered its standard to 80 ppm.

WNYC researchers collected 23 samples in Prospect Park (which were analyzed by Brooklyn College's Urban Soils Lab) and found 74 percent were above 80 ppm, 35 percent were above 150 ppm.

“In my view it's considered pretty high,” Dr. Zhongqi Cheng, the Urban Soils Lab head, told WNYC. “Especially if your kids are playing there, getting the dirt into their hand and mouth.”

The report, which found high levels of lead in Astoria Park in Queens and McCarren Park in Williamsburg, also notes the city's health commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said last fall, “Soil is not, I repeat not, a significant source of lead exposure for children in New York City."