For the first time in state history, child care centers in California had to test their drinking water for possible lead contamination, and preliminary results show about a quarter of those that reported results contained unsafe levels of lead, according to data recently reported by state regulators.
Of the nearly 6,900 centers whose results have been disclosed, almost 1,700 had lead levels that exceeded 5 parts per billion (ppb) — the state’s allowable limit for child care centers. Of those, 13 had lead levels above 500 ppb, including four in the Bay Area.
La Petite Academy in San Diego reported the highest levels of lead — 11,300 ppb — of any child care center in the state. That’s more than 2,200 times higher than what California allows, and comes close to some of the highest levels detected during the catastrophic water crisis in Flint, Michigan, nearly a decade ago.
The facility has since gotten rid of two drinking fountains with the highest lead samples and found its remaining water sources safe after retesting them, said Joanna Cline, spokesperson for the center.
The results indicate that the young children at those centers have been drinking lead-contaminated water for years, which is particularly worrisome because their bodies can absorb significantly more lead — up to five times as much — than those of adults, said Susan Little, a senior advocate with the Environmental Working Group, the nonprofit that analyzed the test results.
“What’s so tragic about this is that this testing is not only an indicator of existing problems, but it also is an indicator of what could have been going on for decades in the drinking water in these centers throughout the state,” Little told KQED.
Lead is a toxic metal found throughout the environment that can enter drinking water from corroded pipes, and has been found to harm children’s nervous systems and brain development if ingested in highly concentrated amounts. Exposure to lead — even at low levels — has been linked to developmental delays and cognition and behavioral problems.
For those reasons, the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2016 recommended that lead concentrations in drinking water at schools not exceed 1 ppb.
EWG’s study stems from a state law passed in 2018, AB 2370, that required all licensed child care centers located in buildings constructed before 2010 to test every faucet for lead contamination by January of this year, and then retest the water every five years.
