Alexandra Wexler

The sand features at Stafford Park have been permanently closed.

Fun and games weren’t the only things found in the sandboxes at two Redwood City parks.

Two years ago, Christopher Beth, director of the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services department, received an anonymous tip about a couple of children getting sick after playing in the sandbox at Stafford Park. He decided to order tests. “We’d never tested the sand before,” Beth said. “Other cities say they don’t test either. There’s no requirement.”

It was a good thing he did. The results showed high levels of E. coli bacteria. Since then, a similar problem was discovered at Maddux Park. The sand play areas at both parks are being replaced with water features, officials said, and the renovations should be done by mid-January.

“Obviously, when we first found out about it, we were shocked like everyone else,” said Shawn White, a member of the Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission. “Even more surprising to us was that the state and county don’t really have a standard on what are acceptable levels of E. coli in playgrounds. Even a little bit was unacceptable to us.”

Beth immediately brought in a company to clean up the sand at Stafford.

“It was like the movie 'Outbreak,'” he recalled. “They put plastic everywhere and were in space suits, and we were like, ‘Oh my god!’  So we stood out there and let people know what was going on. We didn’t want to freak people out.”

After the contaminated sand was replaced, Beth continued to test for bacteria; soon, there were high levels of E. coli present again. Nothing the city tried seemed to work — including turning off a nearby water feature, bleaching the sand, redoing the drainage system and changing the type of sand used.

The sand features at all the other Redwood City parks were tested, and just Maddux came up with an E. coli problem. The source of contamination was feline feces in one case and human feces in the other.

“We spent about $70,000 trying to mitigate this thing, but we couldn’t keep up,” Beth said.  “We had to come up with a long-term solution.”

The Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission was adamant about including the community in discussions about what would replace the sand features at Stafford and Maddux, White said. According to Beth, community members liked the water features at the parks, so Stafford will have a “snail stream” and Maddux will get a trio of “spitting frogs.”

The new features will not use recycled water and are unlikely to harbor any harmful bacteria, according to Beth. “These are low flow actuators, so they go into a drain,” he said.  “We’ve actually looked at putting in filtration and recycling systems… chlorinating, but with staff maintenance and everything else it’s off the charts in terms of expense.”

Initially, some residents were saddened about losing the sand features they fondly remembered from their childhoods. But they appear to be warming to  the planned modifications. “I think it’s a great idea that they’re changing it,” said Leslie Parker, a mother who often brings her toddler to Stafford Park.  “It’s nice to know they were testing it in the first place.”

Redwood City residents who still want access to sand features can go to Stulsaft, Palm, Garrett, Red Morton, or Jardin de Ninos parks, which are being tested on a monthly or quarterly basis.

However, Beth said, “In future park renovations, we’re definitively looking to stay away from sand.”