Kindy arsenic eight times over limit

Parents and their children arrive at Ferndale Kindergarten in Mt Albert. Picture / Greg Bowker

Soil tests taken in an Auckland kindergarten garden area have revealed lead contamination more than seven times the acceptable standard and arsenic contamination eight times over the limit.

Papers released to the Herald yesterday by Auckland City Council show four tests for lead, arsenic and benzo-a-pyrene taken at Ferndale Kindergarten in Mt Albert returned too-high readings on every occasion.

The surface samples at one area found lead contamination at 2160milligrams per kilogram of soil. The acceptable limit is 300mg/kg.

The worst-case reading for arsenic was 384mg/kg. The maximum acceptable reading is 30mg/kg.

The lowest benzo-a-pyrene reading was 20 times above the level high enough to prompt a council investigation of a site.

The tests were carried out this month after a study showed an area near the kindergarten was previously used for "horticultural purposes".

The report says: "The risk is likely to be low for most children who do not regularly eat soil."

Children with "a tendency to eat large amounts of dirt", could be exposed to higher levels of lead, arsenic and benzo-a-pyrene, the report says.

Some of the contaminated soil had been laid only this year.

A Ferndale Kindergarten parent contacted the Herald yesterday worried that Auckland City Council has no record of when lead-contaminated soil was placed at the kindergarten, or its origin.

"Of interest was the fact that this soil had only been in place for about three months but the council was unable to disclose where the soil has been sourced from. It goes without saying the soil was not tested at its source," the man said in an email to the Herald yesterday.

The man - who did not wish to be named - wants to know why the soil was not tested for contaminants at source, and whether the same fill had been used on other Auckland sites.

Those who attended a council-organised meeting at the Mt Albert kindergarten on Wednesday night to discuss toxic soil were told of "a high level of lead contamination in a small garden area".

But that was all the council representative, Deputy Mayor Bruce Hucker, could tell the parents, the man said. "Council were not exactly keen to be asked questions about where that dirt came from. They didn't have an answer."

The media was banned from the meeting and earlier meetings.

A council spokeswoman said yesterday it was working with the Auckland Kindergarten Association to determine how much soil had been dumped on the site, and when.

"That's obviously something we need to look into."

Council and kindergartens had a landlord-tenant relationship, and council staff would have had no part in the installation of the potentially toxic fill, she said.

Council testing of the Ferndale site had revealed "elevated levels" of arsenic, lead and benzo-a-pyrene that were "outside of the thresholds that we use", the spokeswoman said.

Auckland Kindergarten Association boss Tanya Harvey said there could have been some confusion over whether the topsoil was contaminated before it was placed at Ferndale. An investigation was under way to see if tests were taken specifically from the area covered with the topsoil.

She said she had been assured by the council that topsoil was tested for contamination before being placed on a new site.

Auckland City Council also announced yesterday that blood samples from children at another contaminated site, Auckland Central Playcentre in Freemans Bay, have showed no elevated levels of lead in their systems.

Public health service staff usually investigate when the levels are above 15mcg per decilitre of blood, but all children tested at Auckland Central Playcentre came in at below 10mcg, the council said.

Mr Hucker said: "It is tangible proof that the risk of exposure to contaminants at this site has been low for these children and that's something we can all be grateful for."

The Freemans Bay playcentre was one of nine preschools tested for contamination from the cancer-causing chemical benzo-a-pyrene following a council desktop study which suggested the land they were on may have contaminants from previous uses.

A kindergarten in Point Chevalier and the Mt Wellington Playcentre have been tested and cleaned up after chemicals were found about half a metre under the surface, and clean-up at Auckland Central Playcentre has just finished.

Work has begun to clean up the Barnardos Early Learning Centre, also in Freemans Bay, and at the Community Hall play area in Ellerslie.

Testing has also found contaminants at Onehunga Playcentre. The results from a second Mt Albert playcentre are not available yet.

- Additional reporting NZPA