Point Reyes Light - September 19, 2002

MMWD seeks artificial turf on ballfields

By Andrew Pridgen

A Sept. 4 decision by Marin Municipal Water District to encourage artificial turf may end up pitting opponents of a district pipeline to the Russian River against some parents worried about the safety of their children’s ballfields.

Two weeks ago Marin Municipal directors in what they dubbed "a ground-breaking decision" voted to offer financial incentives to organizations who replace the natural grass on their ballfields with artificial turf. In doing so, district directors hope to conserve water now being used for irrigation.

Marin Municipal serves the San Geronimo Valley and almost all of East Marin south of Novato, and some ballfields within the district already use "reclaimed" wastewater for irrigation.

In addition, Marin Catholic before the Sept. 4 MMWD decision had already decided to convert to artificial turf before the Sept. 4 vote. In contrast, the Woodacre Improvement Club this summer decided to use real grass when renovating its ballfield – despite pressure from the Forest Knolls-based Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN).

At present, Lagunitas and San Rafael school districts are weighing whether to use artificial turf when they soon rebuild their ballfields.

Pipeline issue

Although Marin Municipal voters in 1992 authorized building a pipeline to the Russian River, it has yet to be built because several directors hope conservation can obviate the need for it. Much of the political pressure for delaying the pipeline has come from coho-salmon advocates, such as SPAWN. They insist the fish, which the federal government has declared an "endangered species," would be further endangered if any more water were taken from the Russian River.

While the well-being of coho salmon concerns many people, so does the safety of children who will play sports on artificial turf. Unlike old-fashioned Astroturf, the new artificial grass causes fewer turf burns when a fallen player skids on it, and because it doesn’t have seams, players are less likely to twist their ankles on it.

The latest artificial turf consists of a deep-pile carpet laid on top of a rubber pad, but – as with Astroturf – underneath the pad there is concrete, making for a harder landing when a player falls on it instead of grass.

Safety of artificial turf

For now, the safety of the new turf is still being debated. Dr. Mark Ewens, a family-practice and sports-medicine doctor from Catholic Healthcare West, told The Light this week that he has not seen conclusive studies of injuries to children playing sports on artificial turf; there is too little data for conclusions, he said.

However, he added, " you can’t think of the new stuff in the context of that stuff that was on your grandma’s back porch. Artificial turf has come a long way from the old school days of Astroturf. The synthetics are better and sometimes grass is woven in," he noted.

"But it’s simply not conclusive to say either way whether there’d be an increased amount of youth-sports injuries on new [artificial] turf fields because right now youth sports, with the exception of some high schools, are played on grass."

Unlike SPAWN and other coho advocates, Marin Municipal is not promoting the artificial-turf incentive as one way to avoid pipeline construction. District officials this week would only say it is a "water-saving program that could have broad implications," starting a trend for other water districts to follow.

Risks not fully studied

Although the public believes there is an increased amount of sports injuries, which have been caused by artificial turf, the Arthritis Foundation, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and several Marin coaches have claimed the increase is undocumented and no correlation to injuries and artificial turf has been demonstrated.

However, others have said that the lack of information about injuries on artificial turf should make organizations think twice before replacing natural grass.

A 2000 study of soccer-player injuries by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that the "differences between artificial turf and natural-grass playing surfaces account for variable injury rates among adult soccer players playing outdoors. In youth soccer, the relationship between playing surfaces and injuries has not been studied sufficiently to make specific recommendations about safety."

Doctor John Sarwark, professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Northwestern University Medical School said there is no way to trace children’s injuries on turf. "My impression, in general, is that the opportunities that kids get to play on artificial surfaces is uncommon to rare," he noted.

Unknown effect on young

Sarwark said his own daughter plays field hockey on artificial turf at a Chicago-area high school, and he has not noticed that students playing on artificial turf receive more injuries; however, he reiterated there is no conclusive evidence relating to young children.

Given inconclusive information regarding injuries on artificial turf, how wise is it for organizations within the district to start paving paradise?

Dean Bonfigli, athletic director at Marin Catholic High said that converting the school’s ballfield from natural grass to turf will not only save water, it will save money and allow the field to be used year-round without a hiatus for reseeding.

"We saw the amount of money we could save in maintenance costs and water costs [as well as] potential revenue to be generated for renting the venue out when school is not in session," said Bonfigli. "With synthetic grass there’s no downtime, maintenance is minimal, and fields in this area have a little bit of a water issue."

Bonfigli said that as athletic director at Marin Catholic, he is confident the turf will be soft and forgiving when athletes fall on it, and will maximize the greenspace at the school.

Woodacre’s decision

David Shore, a director of the Woodacre Improvement Club, said the club came "close to getting [artificial] turf" when it renovated its ballfield. However, directors looked at the long-term effects of installing artificial grass and decided they did not have enough money, even with the incentives, or information to justify abandoning natural turf.

"We are near a creek, so we had additional challenges dealing with drainage into the creek," Shore noted. "There was some grassroots opposition to the ballfield when it [was proposed with] a well in it. This was solved by taking the well out of the picture. There was grassroots opposition by SPAWN about being too close to the creek, and there was grassroots opposition to [artificial] turf instead of grass."

Shore said that while San Geronimo Valley residents opposed to artificial turf may not have had much information about it and were "perpetuating a negative stigma," the club is "ecstatic" about having a natural surface.

Maintaining artificial turf

"When we looked at [artificial] turf, and the cost estimate... it made a big case for how much cheaper it is to maintain [natural] grass in the long run," Shore said. "Another big thing is that we did not want to exclude dogs.

Directors could not predict what artificial turf would be like "10 years from now," Short added, "but what if it needed replacement? There were too many questions about the nature of playing on turf, and it seemed to be too big a hurdle financially."

Catherine Caufield, executive director of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, this week declined to comment about any risk to young athletes playing on artificial turf but said she feels Marin Municipal’s artificial-turf-incentive program is sound.

Under the program, organizations with ballfields can reduce "their water bill, about $3,000 per year per acre once converted," MMWD spokeswoman Libby Pischel said.

The district will also give organizations $5,000 for every acre-foot of water saved and pay "$15,000 for every acre of natural turf converted to artificial playing surface." In addition, a no-interest loan of $3,000 per acre will be provided each year.

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