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Sarah Hess started taking her toddler, Josie, to Mickey Markey Playground in 2010 because she thought it would be a safe place to play after Josie had been diagnosed with lead poisoning.

Hess had traced the problem to the crumbling paint in her family鈥檚 century-old home. While it underwent lead remediation, the family stayed in a newer, lead-free house in the Bywater neighborhood near Markey, where Josie regularly played on the swings and slides.

鈥淓veryone was telling us the safest place to play was outside at playgrounds, so that鈥檚 where we went,鈥� Hess said.

Josie鈥檚 next blood test was a shock. 鈥淚t skyrocketed,鈥� Hess said. Josie鈥檚 lead levels had leapt to nearly five times the national health standard.

When the soil at Markey was tested in late 2010, it too was found to have dangerously high levels of lead. But the city took no meaningful action to inform Markey鈥檚 users or make the park safe. Parents started posting warning signs at the park and flooded City Hall with outraged calls and emails. Holding Josie in her arms, Hess made an impassioned speech to the City Council.

In short order, the city had hired a company to test Markey and other parks, and pledged to fix the lead problem wherever it was found.

鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 have been more pleased,鈥� Hess said. 鈥淭hey were totally into it. My impression was they were going to make them all lead-free parks.鈥�

But a Verite News investigation conducted over four months in 2025 found that lead pollution in New Orleans parks not only persists, it is more widespread than previously known. Dozens of city parks with playgrounds remain unsafe, including Markey and others that underwent city-sponsored lead remediation in 2011. The city does not appear to have conducted any major remediation or lead testing of parks since that time.

The findings indicate that city officials fell short in their cleanup efforts then, and that a very large number of New Orleans children are exposed to excessive amounts of lead now, said Howard Mielke, a retired Tulane University toxicologist and one of the nation鈥檚 leading experts on lead contamination.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a failed program,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 do what they needed to do to bring the lead levels down in a single park.鈥�

Verite News reporters tested hundreds of soil samples from 84 city parks with playgrounds in fall 2025. Adrienne Katner, a lead contamination researcher with Louisiana State University, verified the results. The testing found that about half the parks had lead concentrations that exceed established in 2024 for soil in urban areas.

鈥淚 am surprised they haven鈥檛 been tested and mitigated,鈥� said Gabriel Filippelli, an Indiana University biochemist who studies lead exposure. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 evidence of kids playing in soils that are as high as [Verite鈥檚 testing] described, that鈥檚 kind of horrifying.鈥�

Public health researchers and doctors say that children under 6 absorb lead-laden dust more easily than adults, contaminating their blood and harming the long-term development of their brains and nervous systems. There is no known safe exposure level for children, and even trace amounts can result in behavioral problems and lower cognitive abilities.

Find the lead levels at your playground

New Orleans is in financial straits with a of about $220 million, and it鈥檚 unclear what priority or resources Mayor Helena Moreno will, or even can, allocate to restart lead remediation efforts. In response to the financial crisis, Moreno has eliminated dozens of positions and plans to one day per pay period to save money. Moreno鈥檚 administration did not respond to requests for comment.

The city doesn鈥檛 routinely test for lead in parks, said Larry Barabino, chief executive officer of the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission, the agency that oversees most of the city鈥檚 parklands. He confirmed the last significant effort to test parks ended in 2011.

He called Verite鈥檚 results 鈥渄efinitely concerning鈥� and pledged to work with city departments and local experts to potentially remediate unsafe parks.

鈥淪afety is our number one priority here at NORD,鈥� Barabino said. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 anything that鈥檚 a true environmental concern or risk, that鈥檚 something that we believe in definitely making sure we take action.鈥�

Andrea Young heard similar pledges 14 years ago. Like Hess, Young had a child who frequented Markey and had high lead levels in her blood. The mothers helped form a community group called NOLA Unleaded that pushed the city to clean up Markey and other parks. Young thought they had succeeded, but said she now realizes that the city had not done enough.

鈥淚t makes me question the value of the work that (the city) did, and the safety we felt in letting our kids play there again,鈥� Young said with a trembling voice. 鈥淚t just sort of shakes me up a little bit, you know?鈥�

Testing New Orleans parks

Verite News conducted soil tests on the city parks that property inventories and maps list as having play structures. Samples were taken from surface soil, which is most likely to come into contact with children鈥檚 hands and toys or be inhaled when kicked up during play or blown by the wind.

Lead is typically found in very small amounts in natural soil. The average lead abundance in U.S. soils is 26 parts per million, equivalent to less than an ounce of lead per ton of soil.

Soil samples collected by Verite from New Orleans parks averaged about 121 ppm鈥攏early five times the national average.

The federal hazard level for lead in soil was 400 ppm , when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Joe Biden lowered it to 200 ppm for most residential areas and 100 ppm in areas like New Orleans with multiple sources of lead exposure, including contaminated soil, lead paint and .

More of a guide than a mandate, the EPA screening levels can steer federal cleanup actions and are often adopted by state and city governments to inform local responses to lead contamination.

California has long had a much of 80 ppm. Of the New Orleans parks Verite tested, 52 鈥� or about two-thirds 鈥� had results that fail California鈥檚 standard.

In October, President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration rolled back the EPA screening standards. The administration retained the 200 ppm threshold for residential areas but eliminated the 100 ppm level for areas with multiple lead sources.

The administration didn鈥檛 dispute the validity of the 100 ppm threshold, but that a single level 鈥渞educes inconsistent implementation and provides clarity to decision makers and the public.鈥�

The change, according to Mielke, doesn鈥檛 align with the science, which has long shown that children are harmed when exposed to soil with levels below 100 ppm. He was one of several scientists who had pushed for lower thresholds since the EPA established its first screening levels more than 30 years ago.

Mielke said the 100 ppm screening level should still be applied in urban areas, especially New Orleans. The city has a long history of soil contaminated with lead from a combination of sources, including lead-based paint, leaded gasoline and emissions from waste incinerators and other industrial facilities. Lead particles spread easily by wind, eventually settling in the topsoil.

Verite found lead levels above 100 ppm at numerous places that get heavy use by children. Lead contamination more than four times that level was recorded near the slides at Markey, outside a playhouse in Brignac Park near Magazine Street and at a well-worn spot under an oak tree at Desmare Park in Bayou St. John.

Elevated lead levels tended to follow the age of the neighborhood. The city鈥檚 older neighborhoods, including the Irish Channel and Algiers Point, had some of the highest lead levels, while Gentilly and New Orleans East, which were developed mostly after the 1950s, tended to be lower, according to Verite鈥檚 findings.

The highest lead levels were found at Evans Park in the Freret neighborhood. Beside a low-hanging oak branch, on ground worn bare by children鈥檚 play, Verite recorded lead at 5,998 ppm, nearly 60 times the urban soils threshold.

Search all of Verite News鈥� test results

Verite spoke to more than a dozen parents at playgrounds across the city, and most were surprised at the levels of lead in the parks.

In the Irish Channel, Meg Potts watched her son run around the dusty playground at Brignac. All of Verite鈥檚 samples at the park surpassed the threshold the EPA deemed safe for urban areas, reaching nearly 600 ppm.

Potts knew high lead levels existed in the city, but didn鈥檛 realize her neighborhood park could be a source of exposure for her son.

鈥溾�奍鈥檓 just thinking about all of this now because he鈥檚 had to go in and have his lead tested,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 like right on the cusp of having too high lead.鈥�

The invisibility of lead makes it challenging for parents to manage among other priorities. Meghan Stroh, whose children often play at Markey, said it鈥檚 hard for parents to protect their children from every threat, but tackling lead at parks is one way the city could help.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a concern that I have amidst a myriad of others,鈥� she said while holding her 10-month-old daughter on her hip. 鈥淪o, it would be nice to have one thing checked off the list.鈥�

Katner, the LSU researcher, said Verite鈥檚 results can serve as a starting point for city officials to conduct more comprehensive testing in parks, noting that even a single lead hotspot in a park is concerning.

鈥溾�奍t doesn鈥檛 matter where it is in the soil; there鈥檚 exposure there,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he kid playing in that part of the park is going to get the highest dose.鈥�

A legacy of lead

Before the 1970s, lead was nearly everywhere. A that the vast majority of the U.S. population born between 1960 and 1980 was poisoned by dangerously high levels of lead in early childhood. On average, lead exposure has resulted in a loss of 2.6 IQ points for more than half the population through 2015.

Lead pollution from cars spread into areas near roads, especially major thoroughfares, until leaded gasoline was phased out by 1996. Similarly, emissions from trash incinerators and industrial sites contaminated the surrounding soil. New Orleans had at least eight incinerators that blew toxic gases and lead dust over several neighborhoods, including Algiers Point and St. Roch, until they were closed in the 1970s and 鈥�80s.

Today, the most pervasive source of lead in soil is degraded paint. Lead-based paint was used extensively for homes and buildings until it was banned in 1978. In New Orleans, most of the houses were built before 1980, according to the . As the paint deteriorates, Tulane University epidemiologist Felicia Rabito said it can chip or turn into toxic dust.

鈥溾�奣he leaded paint goes straight into the dust and it goes straight into the soils, which is a major source of exposure for young children in the city,鈥� said Rabito, who studies lead poisoning and other health conditions.

Children under 6 years old are especially vulnerable, in part because they love to stick their hands in their mouths. Rabito stressed that kids don鈥檛 have to eat the soil directly to be harmed. Children putting their thumbs in their mouths after playing on a seesaw or eating a dropped Cheerio can be enough.

Even a one-time exposure to contaminated soil can raise the level of lead in a child鈥檚 blood, Rabito said. They鈥檙e at an even higher risk if they have a calcium deficiency.

鈥滾ead mimics calcium, so the body essentially thinks that the lead is calcium,鈥� Rabito said. After the lead enters the bloodstream, it鈥檚 hard to fully remove. Most of it is stored long-term in the body鈥檚 bones, accumulating over time and .

Rabito recommended that parents steer clear of contaminated playgrounds because it鈥檚 hard to avoid exposure.

The only way to know if a child has lead poisoning is a medical test. By

Louisiana healthcare providers to ensure every child between 6 months and 6 years of age receives at least two blood tests by age 1 and age 2.

But the law did not include a way to enforce those testing requirements, so many providers don鈥檛 test, according to a from the Louisiana Department of Health. The screening rate has always been very low in New Orleans, Rabito said. In 2022, fewer than one in 10 children under 6 years old were screened for lead poisoning in the city, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

鈥溾�奣here鈥檚 not anything that we can say about lead poisoning or lead levels in children in Orleans Parish with any scientific certainty,鈥� Rabito said. 鈥溾�夾s you see from your own testing, there are different pockets of contamination depending upon where you鈥檙e playing. Parents really need to get their children tested.鈥�

Limited soil testing, patchy fixes

In 2010, Claudia Copeland joined Hess and other Markey regulars in having their kids tested for lead. One of Copeland鈥檚 children, born in Germany, had a blood lead level considered normal at the time. But her younger, New Orleans-born child showed elevated levels that set off alarm bells for Copeland, a molecular biologist.

鈥淭here really is no safe level, but it was really bad,鈥� she said.

Copeland hurriedly made signs and posted them around the park. 鈥淭HE SOIL IN MARKEY PARK IS TOXIC!鈥� they blared in big black letters.

鈥淭he city was aware, but they just were not doing anything,鈥� Copeland said. 鈥淧arents needed to know. We were all so ignorant about what was in the soil. You know, we鈥檙e all saying 鈥榓 little dirt never hurt.鈥欌��

Outcry from parents prompted the city to first fence off and padlock Markey, and then promise a more comprehensive response.

The New Orleans health commissioner at the time, Karen DeSalvo, said the city should do 鈥渆verything we can to understand what the risk might be and to remediate it.鈥� But she also appeared to minimize the dangers of lead at city parks, saying other health risks, like the flu, were greater.

鈥淚n the scheme of the many public health challenges that kids have, it鈥檚 not the greatest challenge, honestly,鈥� DeSalvo in February 2011.

Then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu was more definitive, pledging a swift, far-reaching action.

鈥淭he city will take all necessary measures to investigate possible lead contamination in other parks and playgrounds and remediate them as soon as possible,鈥� he said .

Two months later, testing and remediation were completed at several parks. Members of NOLA Unleaded celebrated and brought their kids back to familiar playgrounds.

But Verite鈥檚 review of work orders shows that the city鈥檚 testing and remediation efforts were limited to a small number of parks. Despite city leaders鈥� assurances of a broad response, only 16 parks were tested in 2011, according to documents obtained through public records requests.

Mielke and NOLA Unleaded鈥檚 members believed most or all of the city鈥檚 parks were tested, pointing to Landrieu鈥檚 promises and an that reported that the city agreed to 鈥渢est all of the public parks in the city.鈥�

鈥淚 guess I kind of believed that, and then you realize that that鈥檚 not actually true,鈥� said Young after learning the city鈥檚 testing was more limited than she thought. 鈥淚f the majority of the parks they tested were high (in lead), what would make them think all the others are fine?鈥�

Landrieu did not respond to a request for comment. DeSalvo, who retired last year as Google鈥檚 chief health officer, said 鈥渆xtremely limited resources鈥� forced the city to weigh its response to lead contamination with the many other health threats residents faced.

鈥淲e worked to address the range of exposures whenever possible with the resources we could muster,鈥� she said.

Of the 16 parks the city tested, only two 鈥� A.L. Davis in Central City and Norwood Thompson in Gert Town 鈥� had levels below 400 ppm, the federal threshold at the time, and were deemed safe by Materials Management Group, or MMG, which was and still is the city鈥檚 environmental consultant. One park, Evans in the Freret neighborhood, was found to have lead levels as high as 610 ppm but wasn鈥檛 remediated for reasons not made clear in testing documents and progress reports submitted by MMG. Thirteen parks, including Markey, underwent remediation after testing showed the properties exceeded the 400 ppm threshold that MMG used to determine soil hazard levels.

Fourteen years later, Verite鈥檚 testing found A.L. Davis and Norwood Thompson have comparatively low lead levels, although A.L. Davis had one sample slightly above the 100 ppm threshold.

Evans, which did not undergo remediation despite unsafe lead levels in 2011, had the highest lead reading of all soil samples collected by Verite. Alongside a low-hanging oak branch, on ground worn bare by children鈥檚 play, Verite recorded lead at 5,998 ppm, a level more than twice that of Verite鈥檚 second-highest sample, taken at Soraporu Park in the Irish Channel.

In 2011, MMG recommended remediation at Evans, including installing a fabric layer topped with clean soil in three areas, including the northeast corner where Verite collected the 5,998 ppm sample. MMG noted in a 2015 progress report that it had not performed the work, but the firm did not explain why.

MMG did not respond to requests for comment.

Documents obtained by Verite show that the city鈥檚 remediation efforts focused on covering patches of contaminated soil rather than the comprehensive treatment Mielke recommended to city leaders in 2011. Mielke had urged the city to fully cover play areas with clean soil, a strategy his research showed was highly effective in reducing lead exposure.

In 2010, Mielke led an effort to reduce lead exposure at 10 child care center playgrounds in New Orleans. He and his team covered the entire footprint of each playground with water-pervious plastic fabric and then six inches of Mississippi River sediment from the Bonnet Carre Spillway, a source of clean, cheap and easily accessible soil. Lead levels fell, with most playgrounds testing below 10 ppm.

The remediation at city parks also used fabric and soil layers, but the coverings were mostly limited to areas with lead levels above 400 ppm, leaving many hazardous areas exposed. Testing and remediation reports obtained by Verite typically show soil capping in only two or three spots, with most of each park remaining untreated.

The remediation at Comiskey Park in Mid-City, for instance, was limited to a 200-square-foot circle in a soccer field and a 400-square-foot strip along a basketball court. No remediation was done near the playground, where Verite鈥檚 testing detected lead levels between 155 ppm and 483 ppm.

At Easton Park in Bayou St. John, the 2011 remediation covered four areas totalling about 4,700 square feet, but the park鈥檚 playground was left untouched. Verite measured four samples around the playground that exceeded the 100 ppm threshold, including 1,060 ppm and 603 ppm readings near Easton鈥檚 swing set.

The soil cover at Markey was more extensive than in other remediations, stretching across much of the park鈥檚 playground and shaded picnic area. But Verite鈥檚 testing found high levels of lead in the remediated area, including two samples above 200 ppm and one just above 400 ppm.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 kind of shocking,鈥� Copeland said. 鈥淎t Markey, the kids play everywhere, and in the sandy areas, they really dig down. I鈥檝e seen holes going almost three feet down, like they鈥檙e playing at a beach. They could be getting into contaminated soil and distributing it around.鈥�

Mielke was surprised to learn that the remediation results were far more limited than he recommended. He was blunt in his assessment of the work.

鈥淭hey worked on too small an area, and they should have been using 鈥� large amounts of soil and covering over large areas,鈥� he said.

Hess, a New Orleans native who recently moved to Colorado, said failing to deliver on projects is all too common in New Orleans, a city infamous for chronic dysfunction and mismanagement.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so sad to have done such a shit job,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 so New Orleans. I鈥檓 sorry. I don鈥檛 live there anymore, but it still makes me sad.鈥�

A roadmap for cleanup?

Barabino, the recreation district CEO, said he would share Verite鈥檚 results with city project managers and MMG.

鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely concerning if it鈥檚 at the level that鈥檚 considered a true risk of threat, and we would get it to (the) capital projects (administration) immediately to get MMG out there, so we could take the steps needed to remediate and make those areas and grounds safe for our kids and families to use,鈥� Barabino said.

Filippelli said the city should conduct comprehensive testing of every park and do regular checkups. But because lead contamination in New Orleans parks is extensive and city leaders are struggling to close a large budget deficit, Filippelli recommends that the city remediate the worst parks first.

He and Mielke don鈥檛 believe the city must take the route of full remediation, which involves digging up lead-tainted soil and trucking it to a hazardous-waste landfill. That鈥檚 very costly and is usually unnecessary if a park is properly capped with clean soil, Filippelli said.

Verite obtained cost estimates for 10 of the 13 parks targeted for remediation in 2011. The total cost was $83,000 in 2011, or about $120,000 today. The work covered more than 1.3 acres across the 10 properties. Compared with similar remediation efforts described by Mielke and Filippelli, the city鈥檚 remediation efforts were very expensive. Filippelli estimates that similar work can be done for about $20,000 per acre 鈥� about a fifth of what was spent to remediate just over an acre at New Orleans parks.

Evans, Markey and many other parks with high lead levels have about an acre of open soil or grass that could be capped for about $20,000. Some parks with the biggest lead problems are the smallest in size. Soraporu Park, which scored the second-highest lead levels in Verite鈥檚 testing, would need about a half-acre of coverage. Union and Brignac parks, each less than a quarter acre, could be capped for about $5,000, according to Filippelli鈥檚 rough estimates.

Remediation should be coupled with efforts to reduce contamination from nearby sources, primarily old houses, Rabito said.

鈥淲hen you clean up soil, you鈥檙e not going to do it much good if you haven鈥檛 identified what鈥檚 contaminating the soil,鈥� she said. In many cases of recontamination, the culprit was a nearby house that was shedding lead paint.

鈥淲hich means the soil was clean for a hot minute before it got recontaminated,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o, we need to make sure that those homes are cleaned up and maintained in a lead-safe way.鈥�

Cleaning up New Orleans parks will also likely require sustained public pressure, said the parents involved with the lead issue in 2011.

鈥淚 was not intending to kick butts or make anybody look bad,鈥� said Copeland of her efforts to alert parents about the dangers at Markey. 鈥淏ut nothing would have happened unless all these parents were calling in to the city.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

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