RIVER ROUGE, Mich. (WXYZ) — A portion of a park in River Rouge is temporarily closed after testing revealed elevated lead levels.
The city says a few months ago, they began testing soil in Belanger Park, John Jakubowski Park and the Great Lakes Athletic Field ahead of a planned demolition project by DTE.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a soil lead hazard is defined as bare soil on residential real property or on the property of a child-occupied facility that contains total lead equal to or exceeding 400 parts per million.
The city says results from John Jakubowski were below the EPA’s residential direct contact criteria in the top six inches of soil. However, lead levels were found at higher levels at much deeper than 6 inches.
At the Great Lakes Athletic Field, the city says soil sample results were below the EPA’s residential direct contact criteria in the top 6 inches of soil but again found elevated levels of cadmium and lead deeper than 6 inches.
At Belanger Park, there is now an orange fence and signage posted around the grassy play area. The city says in the area, soil sample results show lead and cadmium levels above the EPA’s residential direct contact criteria.
"The last few years, it’s been so busy here, people playing. To tell you the truth, I thought that fence was here to tell boaters not to park in the grass," said William Zehel, who spent Tuesday afternoon fishing at the park.
The metals found in the soil at the parks — lead and cadmium — are known to harm the nervous system and kidneys in adults and children.
Victor Stoddard lives near John Jakubowski Park.
"I have my concerns. I’m 81 years old and I’ve already went through agent orange and a bunch of other chemicals when I was in Vietnam. And I don’t need to spend my old age wondering if some kind of lead poisoning is going to finish me off," Stoddard said. "I don’t know what they’re going to do to correct the problem but if there is a way to correct to make sure the residents are safe, that’s the big thing."
The city says while they work on cleanup efforts, Belanger Park will remain open to boaters and anglers. The EPA is now working to make funding available for remediation efforts. There is currently no timeline on when grassy area of the park will reopen.
