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Environmental Testing and Safety

The Department of General Services (DGS) takes our commitment to maintaining the health and safety of District residents seriously. Teams collaborate with DGS across agencies to conduct proactive, routine testing of many environmental factors to support the wellbeing of the people who use our public facilities including buildings, schools, playgrounds, athletic fields, parks, dog parks, spray parks, and more.

Multiple directives and legislation guide environmental safety testing across the District, and the associated protocols combine to provide a strong framework for consistently assessing the safety of our public facilities and, when necessary, remediating elements to bring them back into compliance.

This landing page provides you with details about surface hardness testing on synthetic fields, environmental risk testing in public facilities across 17 parameters, water sampling results for water fountains in DPR and DCPS buildings, and recreation space warranties and certificates of compliance from DGS contractors.

If you need more information after reviewing the links provided, please email [email protected].

The Environmental Testing and Safety page consolidates links to the Interagency Working Group on Artificial Turf and Playgrounds, the Public Facilities Environmental Safety Amendment Act of 2020 and annual water sampling results for DPR and DCPS fountains. See the links below for more information.

         

Public Facilities Environmental Safety Amendment Act of 2020This legislation expands the frequency and scope of testing for environmental risks across the DGS portfolio, including public buildings and recreation spaces with synthetic surfaces. Actionable results are available here.

     

Recreation Surface Hardness TestingStarting in 2019, DGS began using new protocols for annual GMAX surface hardness testing at the District’s synthetic fields. The testing results are available here.   

         

Recreation Space Warranties and Certificates of ComplianceWhen a new or replaced synthetic field is installed in the District, the associated warranty and certificate of compliance with surface hardness standards is published here.

 

         

Water Sample Results DPR and DCPSWater from each water fountain in each school building and recreation center is tested annually. The testing results are available here.