Artificial turf fields can be deadly for coho salmon: UBC study
The turf fields are filled with crumb rubber, which is made from ground-up tires.
While recycling thousands of tires is good for the environment, the UBC study found that the fill leaches into storm-water a chemical called 6PPD-quinone, which is known to kill coho.
“The average artificial turf field contains around 125 metric tonnes of crumb rubber — that’s around 20,000 passenger vehicles, so a massive amount of rubber that can release pollutants in just one soccer field,” Katie Moloney, a PhD student in environmental engineering in UBC’s Scholes Lab, told Global News.
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The project began after the North Vancouver Streamkeepers found dead coho in an adjacent stream to where crumb rubber was found to be washing off a nearby turf field.
The study has found that the contamination can continue for years after the field is installed.
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“One of our findings shows that a three-year field, a four-year field is behaving the same way a 14-year-old field is behaving, so we can’t just assume it’s a short-term problem,” Moloney said.
“Rather, across the lifespan of this turf field, it’s going to continue to release contaminants.”
Scientists said the contaminants can be reduced by passing storm-water through a planted soil filter.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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