Trash plastic turf

Thank you to the Sjoberg family of Fresno for their gray-water recycling efforts (article July 1). The benefits of their positive approach contrast sharply with the negative impacts of artificial turf. My concerns about widespread installation of plastic lawns, such as those proposed by Granville Homes, include disease, weeds and heat.

I have seen standing water on artificial turf, the result of runoff from adjacent landscaping. The Bee recently ran an important article about the increased risks from mosquito-carried diseases caused by such stagnant water where the insects breed. Then there’s the artificial-turf median eyesore on West Shaw Avenue where enough dirt has collected to allow weeds to take root, grow tall and die.

Of great concern in Fresno is heat generation, which increases smog levels. University of Nevada, Las Vegas researchers found artificial turf averaged 69 degrees hotter than grass and 62 degrees hotter than the air temperature from August through March, 2006-07. A 2002 Brigham Young University study showed that artificial turf was much hotter than even concrete or asphalt. So, not only is it unsafe to the touch, much less play on, but it will worsen our air pollution crisis though the heat-island effect.

Please, no plastic grass.

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 3:02 AM with the headline "Trash plastic turf."