Lead is pervasive in the drinking water of child care centers across California, with almost 1 in 4 child care facilities testing above legally allowed levels in the state, per new data released by the California Department of Social Services.
The results follow the first time in state history that child care facilities were required to test for lead in their drinking water, revealing the extent to which infants, toddlers and preschool children across the state are exposed to the damaging neurotoxin.
Even low exposure levels of lead in children have been linked to a multitude of devastating health effects, including damage in the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing and impaired formation and function of blood cells, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Lead exposure is particularly damaging for younger children whose brains are still developing and for whom such damage is irreversible, said Tasha Stoiber, a senior scientist at Environmental Working Group, an environmental advocacy nonprofit.
“Those youngest children are also going to be the most vulnerable to lead exposure, especially because most of their caloric intake for the day is going to be formula mixed with tap water,” Stoiber said.
Almost 1,700 child care facilities had tap water that tested above 5 parts per billion of lead, the state’s permissible level, though the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agree that there is no known safe level of lead in drinking water for children.
The highest test result came from La Petite Academy Incorporated in San Diego, which measured 11,300 ppb at one of its faucets — 2,260 times the state’s acceptable level and close to the highest concentrations found in Flint, Mich., where a lead contamination crisis developed in 2014 when the city’s water supply was switched from Detroit water to the Flint River. That waterway received raw sewage from the city’s waste disposal plant, along with urban and rural runoff, leaching contaminants from landfills and waste disposed by local industries.
Of the 6,866 child care centers in California that were tested, eight centers had at least one faucet or fountain that exceeded the 5 ppb limit by 200 times, 76 centers exceeded the limit by 20 times and 183 centers exceeded the limit by 10 times, according to an analysis of the state’s data from the Environmental Working Group.
The results are “alarming” but “not surprising” given the known high levels of lead in the drinking water of K-12 schools across the state, said Jenn Engstrom, California Public Interest Research Group state director. The nonprofit gave California a C grade this year for its “middling policies” to stop lead contamination in schools’ drinking water.
“We’re really falling behind as a state when it comes to actually addressing this problem,” Engstrom said.
Abc Preschool in San Francisco had the fourth-highest recorded level of lead, with one of its faucets measuring 3,000 ppb of lead. When reached by The Chronicle, director Kumiko Inui said the faucet in question had not been used since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also in the top 10 was a faucet at the St. Catherine of Siena Preschool in Martinez, which had the fifth-highest recorded level of lead at 2,000 ppb of lead. Principal Jessica Griswold told The Chronicle that the faucet belonged to a sink in the director’s office that is inaccessible to children and had not been in use for years. Since receiving the test results, the school has ceased using the faucet, Griswold said.
Kidango Linda Vista in San Jose, which had the 11th highest measurement of lead at 600 ppb, “immediately discontinued” using faucets at Kidango Centers that exceeded 5 ppb, according to assistant director of communications Mario Fierro-Hernandez. All Kidango classrooms have since installed lead-free fixtures and supply lines, Fierro-Hernandez wrote to The Chronicle.
At Bunker Hill Parents Participation Nursery School in San Mateo, the center with the 13th highest measurement of lead at 530 ppb, the sinks were only used for handwashing, and “at no time did our students consume water from these sinks,” according to director Tiffany Teele. Once the center was made aware of the results, the sinks were shut off, replaced and retested before being used for handwashing, Teele wrote in an email to The Chronicle.
KinderCare had numerous daycare centers with faucets that tested above allowed levels, including one in San Francisco that had a faucet with 372 ppb of lead. At centers whose test results came back higher than 5 ppb, families were notified of the test results, and the faucets were removed from use until they could be replaced and retested, according to KinderCare senior public relations manager Colleen Moran. “Throughout this process we kept our families up to date on the actions we took,” Moran wrote.
Another Bay Area center with high amounts of lead discovered in faucets, First Presbyterian Church Preschool in Burlingame, did not respond to a request for comment.
The new test results from child care facilities were spurred by the passage of AB2370 in 2018, authored by Assembly Member Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, and sponsored by the Environmental Working Group. The bill requires child care centers built before 2010 to have their drinking water tested for lead contamination levels no later than January 2023. The centers will need to retest their water every five years.
Centers must cease using fountains and faucets that exceed the state’s allowed level of lead and obtain a potable source of water for children and staff at that location, per AB2370.
Child care centers are also required to notify parents or guardians of children enrolled at the center of the test results, according to Department of Social Services spokesperson Theresa Mier.
Going forward, state policies should help school and child care centers proactively install filtered water stations to capture lead coming from plumbing or pipes, as even 5 ppb can be damaging, Engstrom said. Lead levels in water can also be variable, which means proper sampling can miss possible contamination.
“What we’re really encouraging these child care centers and schools to do is go above and beyond that requirement to get down to zero,” Engstrom said.
Holden and the Environmental Working Group are sponsoring another bill to tighten testing requirements at public and private K-12 schools. Currently, schools don’t have to test all faucets at their location and must take action only if lead levels measure above 15 ppb.
AB249, which is still in committee, would lower the limit to 5 ppb and require schools to test all their faucets.
Reach Claire Hao: claire.hao@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @clairehao_
