Durham, NC

Climate and Environment | 2025

Documented the risk of exposure from parks with contaminated soil to protect nearby residents’ health and advocate for remediation.  

Exposure to lead and heavy metals can cause serious, irreversible health problems. In 2023, a researcher discovered lead and other heavy metals in the soil of five parks in Durham, North Carolina. Walltown, Northgate, Lyon Park, East End, and East Durham were the sites of or received soil from municipal incinerators. These incinerators were placed in historically redlined neighborhoods, near majority communities of color and residents with low incomes. Though soil in the parks has been tested, the extent to which lead and heavy metal contamination extends to the surrounding residential areas was unknown. To identify potential health risks, Toxic Free North Carolina, the NC Environmental Justice Network, and community partners educated residents, hosted soil screening events, helped residents collect soil from their properties, and analyzed soil-testing results.  

Project partners developed park-specific contamination maps, fact sheets, and materials for conducting soilSHOP (Soil Screening, Health, Outreach, and Partnership) events that educated residents about the history of the parks’ land use and contamination, connected them with experts to address community concerns, and shared health resources and tools to reduce exposure. SoilSHOP also provided a space to imagine future possibilities for the park sites. In total, Toxic Free North Carolina and partners hosted a soilSHOP event in each of the five parks, collecting 233 samples from 106 households in the area.  

The project team analyzed the soilSHOP samples from participating residents’ homes, finding that 12 percent of lead samples across the five parks were above the 200 parts per million safety threshold and 16 percent of arsenic samples were above the 8 parts per million safety threshold. Additional sites had other toxic contaminants not frequently tested and volatile organic compounds. To share their findings, the team held a virtual community report-back on deidentified neighborhood-level soil-quality data and answered questions about the process and each neighborhood’s results. The team later developed a dashboard showing the neighborhood data. Partners provided individualized data to residents who opted to receive it.  

Through this project, Toxic Free North Carolina and project partners have built closer relationships with the City of Durham Parks and Recreation Department and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. Project partners have shared soil-testing results with these local stakeholders to collaborate on a public report and identify possible bioremediation solutions. Affected residents can also use the results to protect their health and advocate for solutions. Organizations supporting these communities, including Toxic Free NC, the Contaminated Parks Organizing Team, and NC Environmental Justice Network, will use the findings to continue advocating for remediation to improve soil quality and the health of Durham communities.