🌱 Artificial turf is great for rainy PNW sports, but it also releases a salmon-killing chemical

0:00 (uplifting music)- If you've ever played

0:01 outdoor sports ball in the Pacific Northwest,

0:03 there's a good chance you've played on artificial turf.

0:06 (bell dings) It holds up better than grass in the rain,

0:09 and it requires less upkeep.

0:11 But researchers from the University of British

0:13 Columbia have discovered a disturbing side effect.

0:17 The water running off those fields could be hurting salmon.

0:21 (whistle blows) Yellow card.

0:23 Artificial turf fields aren't just sheets of green plastic grass.

0:27 They include infill,

0:28 which gives the surface a little squishy give when you step on it.

0:32 The most common infill used is crumb rubber,

0:35 basically ground up old tires, and this is where the trouble comes.

0:39 Tires contain an additive called 6PPD, which makes them more durable.

0:44 But when it interacts with ozone in the air,

0:47 it transforms into 6PPD-quinone, the salmon slayer.

0:52 The researchers tested for 6PPD-quinone in turf fields around BC,

0:58 and found concentrations more than three times

1:00 the levels known to kill coho salmon,

1:04 and the fields can continue to leach the chemical years after they're installed.

1:08 (whistle blows) That's a red.

1:10 The good news?

1:10 Well, there are ways to filter out the salmon

1:13 slaying chemical before it runs off into streams.