For years, children in Heesch came home sick after playing in the playground on Heelwijkstraat. They suffered from a rash, inflamed eyes and fingers, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. It now appears that the sand in the playground is contaminated with a pathogenic intestinal bacteria.
Local residents have long suspected that the problems were caused by the sand in the playground. There is so-called falling sand, which is used for damping under the playground equipment.
“Children see it as one big sandbox, of course, so they play in it too.”
Local residents sounded the alarm at the municipality of Bernheze, but they took no action. “They reasoned that it was not playing sand,” says Mitchell de Vaan. “But yes, children naturally see it as one big sandbox, so they play in it too.” His two sons also had all kinds of complaints years ago.
According to councilor Marius Tielemans of the municipality, the trap sand and play sand are checked monthly. “Until now, the values were always below a certain level, and the sand did not need to be replaced,” he says.
The local residents then closed off the playground themselves, so that the children could no longer play there. Mitchell believes that the municipality should have taken action much faster. “It’s about our children, this needs to be resolved quickly.”
At the insistence of the concerned local residents, the municipality had the soil examined at the end of May. This showed that there is a high concentration of an intestinal bacterium, the so-called enterobacteriaceae in the sand, much more than is allowed.
Tielemans acknowledges that there is too high a value of the bacteria in the sand, but according to him it is questionable whether the children have become ill because of the sand. “We do want to be on the safe side, however, because there should be no risks to health.”
Attempts to clean the sand by treating the top layer with hot water and steam were unsuccessful. The municipality has now closed the playground with immediate effect. There is a large fence around the playground.
The top layer of the sand will be excavated, after which new sand will be poured. According to the alderman, this will take a week to several weeks. Other playgrounds will also be examined to see whether the sand is safe.
