The nation’s second largest school district has used a new type of synthetic turf infill, FlexSand Action, on a multi-purpose field at a Hollywood, Calif. high school in response to concerns about lead and other heavy metals found in some traditional infill materials.

The Los Angeles Unified School District specified that FlexSand Action infill and DOMO Varioslide Supreme artificial turf be installed on a 90,000-square-foot athletic field to be used by students of the new Helen Bernstein High School and residents of the surrounding community due to concerns about lead, said Stephen Sharr, director of new construction for the Central Region of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Sharr said the district specified the DOMO artificial turf and FlexSand infill because they were assured that both products do not contain detectable levels of lead and other potentially hazardous metals. He said Bernstein High School is the first facility to use FlexSand Action infill as a cushioning material on an athletic field in the district, which is now implementing a construction program in excess of $27 billion to modernize schools that serve about 750,000 students.

Tom Ricci, president of Park West Sports Systems Inc. in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., said customers are becoming interested in alternative infill materials for better performance characteristics and environmental reasons, principally lead. Ricci said the school district chose the FlexSand Action product to protect its players and the local community. Park West Sports, a certified installer for DOMO synthetic turf in California, Nevada and Arizona, spread FlexSand Action in early October after the synthetic turf was installed.