Herbicides in the park

At the end of June, after a brief public process that included notice to abutters and a zoom public meeting, the Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Culture (PRC) sprayed the soccer and softball fields in New Cold Spring Park (the fields near Beacon Street) with an herbicide, Q4 Plus, to reduce clover and other weeds in the field.  The weeds are said to cause tripping injuries to athletes. 

New Cold Spring Park (CSP) was selected to be one of five fields to be treated this year. Four more fields are scheduled for treatment in each of the two next years. The good news is that rainwater runoff we collected after the first significant rainfall and brought to an independent testing laboratory had no detectable level of herbicides or pesticides. However, this testing does not guarantee there were no impacts on wildlife or people.  

Friends of Cold Spring Park initially asked a series of questions to PRC and requested the spraying in CSP to be delayed for at least a year for further evaluation and discussion. Our organizational concern is primarily the potential impact on wildlife and biodiversity because of the proximity of the fields to Cold Spring Brook.  The EPA warning label for Q4 Plus, with 2,4-D and dicamba as the main active ingredients, reads: “Harmful to aquatic life with long-lasting results….Keep out of drains, sewers, ditches, and waterways. Drift and runoff may be hazardous to aquatic organisms in water adjacent to treated areas.” The Newton Conservators also wrote to PRC expressing concerns about spraying.  These letters, including City responses, and other related documents, can be accessed in our in our Herbicide Documents File.*  

To avoid the risk of contamination of runoff in rainwater, the city’s procedures call for scheduling spraying during a period where rain is not forecast for three days, and closing the field for that period, providing a margin of safety over the manufacturer’s recommendation of 12 hours to allow the product to dry. The city also does not spray within 100 feet of a stream or wetland, the distance at which the Conservation Commission does not require a site-specific review.**

The soccer and softball fields were sprayed and fields posted as closed on Monday morning, June 28, with possible thunderstorms not anticipated until Wednesday afternoon. However, there was a brief rain shower on Tuesday afternoon, after which the field was used by a soccer team that had previously been granted a permit, despite being notified by PRC that the field had been closed, and for a pickup rugby game that did not have a permit. After a heavier rainstorm on Wednesday afternoon, we collected a sample of soccer field runoff and brought it to an independent laboratory for testing. They found no detectable levels of herbicides or pesticides. 

Conclusions: 1) a 3-day margin of safety appears adequate to prevent runoff, however,  2) during summer thunderstorm season, a 72-hour “no rain” period cannot be accurately forecast, and 3) PRC procedures to keep athletes and others off the field while closed were inadequate.  We cannot say whether there was any herbicide runoff during or after the brief rainstorm on Tuesday, and the extent of any potential exposure among the soccer or rugby players. We also cannot say whether wildlife was exposed to or harmed by the herbicides.

*Pesticide opponents are also concerned about potential human health effects of the primary active ingredient in Q4-Plus, known as 2,4-D. That issue is complex, controversial, and beyond our expertise. An international review concluded that 2,4-D may cause cancer. The U.S. EPA says it does not. For those who may be interested in potential harmful impacts, you may want to read articles by the Natural Resources Defense Council or National Pesticide Information Center. We do not vouch for the content of either.

**A 200-foot buffer is required at some elementary schools and the Albermarle fields. With site-specific review and approval, they may allow a buffer of as little as 25 feet.