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The Pleasanton Unified School District’s STEAM Preschool had to shut down four of its outdoor water faucets earlier this year due to excessive levels of lead being found in the water, according to the state’s Department of Social Services.
However, because the outdoor faucets are not typically used for drinking or cooking, students at the preschool this year will still have access to safe water as the school year starts, according to PUSD director of communications Patrick Gannon.
“The district replaced the faucet heads (a common cause), however they still tested over the threshold for particles so we are providing alternate access to ensure students and staff always have access to fresh water,” Gannon told the Weekly. “Testing was also done on internal water faucets which all were fine.”
Lead can cause significant health problems, especially for children, so regular testing is required in all licensed child care centers in California, according to regulators.
“Lead inhibits the bodies of growing children from absorbing iron, zinc and calcium, minerals essential to proper brain and nerve development,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It must be emphasized that there is no known blood lead level for children without some level of risk for some of the adverse neurological effects of lead in children.”
Theresa Mier, a spokesperson for the California Department of Social Services, told the Weekly that any licensed child care center located in a building that was constructed before Jan. 1, 2010 must test its drinking water for lead contamination levels pursuant to state health and safety codes.
Mier said testing is conducted by laboratories with Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program accreditation and the test results are then uploaded to the California State Water Resources Control Board. The Department of Social Services monitors that data for new testing results and notifies child care centers when an action level exceedance (ALE) is reported, which is what recently happened with the PUSD preschool.
On Jan. 8, the Department of Social Services’ Community Care Licensing Division conducted an inspection to test for lead in the water and see if levels exceeded what is allowed by the state, according to the facility evaluation report from that inspection. Gannon said all the testing was initiated by the district’s early and expanded learning team, which oversees STEAM Preschool.
According to the Jan. 8 facility evaluation report for the STEAM Preschool, the state department was notified of elevated lead levels that exceeded 5.5 parts per billion — the state action level threshold is five parts per billion, or 5 micrograms of lead per 1 liter of water, according to the Department of Social Services.
“Based on record review … 4 outdoor water hoses (and) faucets had an ALE of 5.5 ppb or greater, which posed a potential health and safety risk to children in care,” the Jan. 8 facility evaluation report stated.
According to the CDC, lead typically enters drinking water primarily through plumbing materials, but Gannon has not clarified if this was the reason for the excess of lead in the water at STEAM Preschool.
January was also not the first time the STEAM Preschool saw high levels of lead in the water.
According to the California Water Resources Control Board’s child care center lead sampling results from July 15, the preschool tested 45 micrograms per decilitre back in Nov. 2, 2023. Three other samples at the preschool during that same time period tested between 22 to 29 micrograms per decilitre.
“As of October 28, 2021, CDC uses a blood lead reference value of 3.5 micrograms per deciliter to identify children with blood lead levels that are higher than most children’s levels,” according to the CDC. “This new level is based on the U.S. population of children ages 1-5 years who represent the top 2.5% of children with the highest blood lead levels.”
Since the Jan. 8 visit, re-testing had been completed and failed, which led to the preschool getting a Type B citation that forced the school to cap off the spigots in February. This was after the faucet heads were replaced, as Gannon said, which did not lower the lead levels.
After citing the school, Mier said the Community Care Licensing Division does work with child care centers like STEAM on plans of correction, which includes having the facility use alternative sources of water for cooking and drinking that do not have excessive levels of lead; using bottled water; or using filters certified for lead removal.
“If lead levels continue to exceed the action level of 5 parts per billion, the facility must continue to remediate the fountain(s) or faucet(s) or remove them from service,” Mier said. “The facility is not allowed to use them again until the facility has met the requirements specified in section 101705 of the CDSS Written Directives for Lead Testing of Water in Licensed Child Care Centers. The CDSS works with licensees to come into compliance and provides direct technical assistance as needed.”
Gannon said that because the STEAM Preschool is relatively small and consisting of a few classrooms, “staff have been able to easily ensure that students have access to drinking water at all times throughout the day.”
“We have done testing across the district as required by law. Findings (none significant) were all addressed by either replacing the water faucets or providing an alternate source,” Gannon said in a follow-up email Saturday.
“We don’t know the exact source of what’s causing the high readings on the outdoor faucets, but since those are not primary water sources and the site is eventually moving to a new location that will centralize our early education programs (this is a Measure I project), it is not worth the public resources to try and identify the source and remedy the situation,” he added.
Has anyone looked into the lead that was also found in the water at AVHS? Ask Valerie Arkin who was a School Board member at the time (and now a current up for election council member) why it wasn’t being disclosed.