Low levels of arsenic found at Red Caboose Park in Bellevue

The Red Caboose Park playground will need to be replaced because it tests positive for arsenic and no longer meets today's play equipment standards, the Metro Parks director says.

The wood used to build the nearly 20-year-old playground equipment in Bellevue was pressure-treated with a chemical called chromated copper arsenate, which is known to leach arsenic, Metro Parks and Recreation Director Tommy Lynch said Monday. Within the past 18 months, the parks department learned manufacturers used the chemical and decided to have the play equipment tested, he said.

Despite the issues with the equipment, the playground remains open. Lynch said the issues are not causing an immediate safety concern and cited a May 2014 report from Nashville environmental and architecture firm Gobbell Hays Partners, which performed the arsenic sampling for the city.

"We haven’t shut it down because it’s not dangerous," Lynch said. "It's 20 some years old and we have this report, we figure it's time to replace the whole thing. We'd rather be safe than sorry."

The park, built by local residents in 1996 off Highway 70 South, is a focal point of the community for children and the site of the Bellevue Picnic, held every May. Lynch estimates the playground will cost about $250,000 to replace and will be paid for by the parks department.

Gobbell Hays Partners took samples from the park that were analyzed by a lab. It reported the following arsenic totals: playground mulch, 3.5 milligrams per kilogram; adjacent soils, 10 mg/kg and the playground's treated wood, 1,400 mg/kg.

These arsenic totals are more than the Environmental Protection Agency's regional screening levels, but the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation recognizes that background arsenic levels in the Nashville region are well above the EPA's levels, the report states. The arsenic levels found at Red Caboose Park fall within the higher background levels the state agency recognizes, the report says.

"It is our opinion that the concentrations of arsenic do not pose a significant environmental concern at the site," the report states.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element found in soils, and people can be exposed to it by eating food, drinking water and breathing air, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says. It is toxic in its inorganic form, which can cause health issues such as cancer, according to the agency. Children can be exposed to small amounts of the element from play structures built with pressure-treated wood, but the potential exposure is generally smaller than it would be from food and water, the agency says. Hand washing can reduce the potential exposure from a play structure.

Gobbell Hays Partners reviewed available research on the risk of skin exposure from treated playground wood and stated in the report that "there does not appear to be any established link between contact with treated wood and negative health effects."

Based on its Feb. 10, 2014, investigation, the company made two recommendations:

If mulch is removed from the site, it could be used in other available areas within Metro Parks. If the playground is ever designated for replacement or renovation, the pressure treated wood should be disposed according to applicable regulations in a licensed disposal facility permitted to accept arsenic treated wood.

After speaking with Lynch about the testing, Councilwoman Sheri Weiner, whose District 22 includes the park, said she feels confident the park can remain open, but she will be working with the parks department to replace the equipment. Weiner expects that process to begin in the spring after the winter season.

"Rest assured the equipment is being replaced," Weiner said. "In fact, we'll be pulling up the playground itself and reorienting the playground so nothing will be reused."

Reach Holly Meyer at 615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.