The Morning Report
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The San Diego County Water Authority today suspended its rebate program that aimed to get local residents to install artificial turf.
The authority did so in response to a Centers for Disease Control health advisory that cited concerns about lead levels in some artificial turf in New Jersey, where a public health agency found elevated levels of lead in turf fields.
The authority had offered a $1-per-square-foot rebate for residential turf installation (as well as offering 75 cents-per-square-foot in parks and 50 cents for commercial installation).
The CDC says new turf fields are not likely to have high lead levels. Its advisory says:
The risk for harmful lead exposure is low from new fields with elevated lead levels in their turf fibers because the turf fibers are still intact and the lead is unlikely to be available for harmful exposures to occur.