Playgrounds across Eastern Durham have been closed since June 2023 when a Enikoe Bihari, former Duke Master’s Student, found that lead levels in soil surrounding children’s play areas violated EPA guidelines. According to Bihari’s report, alongside authors Daniel Richter and Garrett Grewal, city maps from the early 1940s revealed waste incinerators on the sites which these parks were later built upon.

City officials mandated netting to be placed around East Durham, East End, Walltown, Lyon and Northgate Parks shortly after the report was released three years ago. Barriers to the parks have not been updated since they were initially placed. 

“There are sites and creeks that are contaminated that run directly to schools,” said Ashley Scott, Lead Educator of Bike Durham, a youth focused biking initiative. “I don’t think enough has been said about the dangers of children playing in areas that are contaminated.” 

Durham Parks and Recreation officials advise that residents and children who frequent the area be tested for high blood lead levels. Extensive lead exposure may have elevated effects on cognitive development in children according to the Durham County Department of Public Health. 

“If you let your lawn go in disarray, the city would send you a citation,” Scott said. “But if the city lets its park sit in disarray, or not make sure that they’re closed off, it’s the status quo. There’s more barriers to keep homeless people out of parks than to keep children out of contaminated parks.”

Historically, the East Durham, Walltown and Lyon neighborhoods maintained large Black communities. The idea of ‘segregation by elevation,’ coined from a review of the Urbanization of Black Durham by the Duke World Food Policy Center, has prevailed today and disproportionately affected Black populations in Durham with these environmental issues. 

“The other Black neighborhoods were the West End/ Lyon Park, Brookstown, Hickstown, Walltown, and the East End,” said the review. “The less desirable land, where most of the Black neighborhoods were located, fell in the ‘bottoms,’ which were low-laying areas easily prone to flooding.”

In 2007, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ), identified 688 pre-regulatory landfill sites like these. The department created the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program (PRLP) to research, survey and create a recommended approach for how cities and counties should tend to these affected sites. 

Since the creation of the program, only about 7% of identified locations have been investigated according to the PRLP Performance Report released in July 2026. City officials still wait for simple-language reports of the findings from each full-risk assessment of each park. 

“Throughout the course of analysis by NCDEQ, DPR staff requested opportunities to restore partial park access or redesign amenities in unaffected areas,” said Wade Walcutt, Durham Parks and Recreation Director, in a memo to city officials in February 2026. According to the memo, the NCDEQ declined these requests, citing public health concerns and the need for a full risk assessment.

Walcutt urged Deputy City Manager Keith Chadwell to keep these park cleanups and renovations in mind when considering the city budget. At the time the memo was released, the estimated cost of renovation was $10.5 million, a projection created by the NCDEQ in June 2024.

Today, the total amount for remediation of all five parks is estimated at $24.4 million according to NCDEQ. The city has allocated $12 million over the past two fiscal cycles for repairing these parks. 

In May, Democratic Senator and Durham native, Sophia Chitlik, sponsored the Safe Parks Act. Focused on providing funding for the “remediation of environmental contamination at public parks,” the bill could aid projects like these through the NCDEQ. 

The most recent Remedial Investigation Reports, focusing on soil gas, groundwater and surface water/sediment were released on July 13, 2026. Research was conducted by S&ME, an environmental and construction testing company, and can be accessed here. 

City officials have not released any statements or official course of action following the risk-assessments. Community members are eager for solutions. 

“There’s nothing wrong with saying, ‘we don’t know how to fix this’ or, ‘this is going to be expensive’ or, ‘we might have to lose some parts.’ We can get over that,” Scott said. “It’s another thing to go, ‘well, we just don’t know what to do.’”

Durham Parks and Recreation have identified a few potential options for remediation moving forward. These include either removal of the impacted materials, or “Cap and Cover” systems, where clean soil would be laid down and then special geotextile fabric would be laid over it. 

A Remedial Action Plan, RAP, must be created before changes are made to any of the parks according to Walcutt’s memo. This planning process could take anywhere between 4-12 months and is dependent on the condition and recommendations for each individual location. 

Even still, potentially re-opening these parks in the future enables children throughout these communities more access to green spaces outside of their schools and homes. 

In a 2023 video released to quell community concerns, Rod Jenkins, Director of Public Health, urged community members to be cautious of soil on their own property as lead exposure is more common in home environments than it is in public spaces.

Edited by Lillian Hanks and Laila Heard.