Rachel Dissell

One in three licensed day cares in Oregon has failed to prove its drinking water is free from high levels of the neurotoxin lead, state data show. Oregon childcares are required to test drinking water for the first time as part of new rules created in response to reporting last year by The Oregonian/OregonLive. Day cares faced a Sept. 30 deadline to submit lead results. But data through early November showed that the state lacked information from 1,280 day cares a full five weeks after the deadline passed. The newsroom obtained the lead testing results through a public records request. Of the 2,635 day cares that did submit results, about 1.6 percent discovered lead above state standards, records show. The state tallied at least 43 such childcare facilities, but it's not immediately clear if children at each location consumed tainted water. Some childcare providers have welcomed the testing as a necessary safeguard for children. At the Central Little School in Veneta, testing of the only tap used for drinking water uncovered high lead. Kids are now drinking bottled water. "It's better for us to know that's there, and make the corrections that are necessary," said Justine Walters, the day care director. "We don't want to put kids at risk." No amount of lead exposure is considered safe. Lead is especially dangerous for children who are younger than six years old, with even low levels linked to learning disabilities and damage to the nervous system, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While the greatest risk comes from lead paint and dust, drinking water can represent 20 percent or more of a person's total exposure to lead.

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Beth Nakamura

Oregon day cares are supposed to stop using water from any tap with lead concentrations at or above 15 parts per billion. But state regulators have not verified if each day care that reported high levels has taken action. Officials plan to visit those day cares by Nov. 30 to ensure fixes, such as providing children with bottled water. Marc Siegel, a spokesman for Oregon's Office of Child Care, said in a statement that agency officials are "encouraged by what the data is telling us, and we continue to analyze test results as they come in to get a complete understanding of the extent of the issue." State regulators were unable to say how many childcares have been contacted for failing to submit testing results. Siegel said some facilities have been told there's a six- to eight-week backlog at certified labs. Officials hope to identify which day cares are stuck in a logjam versus those that ignored the new rules. "Testing is critical to the safety of children in childcare facilities," Siegel said in a statement. "Over the coming weeks we're focused on ensuring every facility gets tested and develops mitigation plans if necessary." Oregon's position that lead testing is critical to safety comes a year after childcare policymakers initially determined it wasn't worth the cost. In September 2017, Oregon's Early Learning Council voted unanimously to keep testing optional for more than 4,000 licensed day cares. Sue Miller, chairwoman of the council, said at the time that testing costs of up to $94.80 per day care would represent a "huge burden" for providers. The Oregonian/OregonLive highlighted the state's decision and contrasted it to Washington, where testing is mandatory. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown subsequently ordered the childcare policy council to reverse its decision. Officials approved new rules in February, giving day cares seven months to conduct testing and submit results to the state. Day cares also had the option to submit old results obtained within the past six years.

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Beth Nakamura

The state's testing data show that Oregon's new rules have had a profound impact on the prevalence testing. About 400 facilities tested for lead in the five years preceding Oregon's requirement, according to state records, and nearly all of those tests occurred in 2016 during the lead scare involving Portland Public Schools. More than 2,100 completed testing this year. One of those day cares was the Little Village Learning Center, which operates only a few blocks away from the Oregon State Capitol in Salem. Testing showed that one of five taps had high lead levels. That faucet, which provided drinking water to a preschool class, had lead concentrations of 24 parts per billion when tested in August. Mercedes Johnston, director for the day care center, said she shut off access to that tap and provided bottled water until a second round of testing could be completed. That test came back low, she said, and results have been shared with the state.

Johnston said she supports Oregon's testing requirements.

"I think it's good," she said. "It's our bodies."

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Day care owner Cara Farr also supports the testing. Farr moved her Portland business, Concordia Montessori, to a new location in July. A month later, the facility's only tap for drinking water tested at 55 parts per billion. Farr said children should not have been exposed to high lead because a water filter was in use prior to the testing. Farr said she's since provided bottled water to the children in her care, at a cost of about $6 a week.

"I'd rather know and safeguard the children," she said. "It could be inconvenient. But certain things, you don't want to risk little brains developing." State regulators have not verified whether children drank from each of the taps at the 43 facilities that reported a high result, the childcare spokesman said. The Oregonian/OregonLive spot checked the list and found three facilities that said their high results came from taps that children did not access. It's not yet clear when parents will be able to access verified lead testing results for day cares across Oregon. Officials for the Office of Child Care told The Oregonian/OregonLive last year that lead results would be posted to the state's childcare website. But that has yet to happen and Siegel, the state spokesman, declined to say when it would. Officials have also demurred on publicly sharing the results they have. An environmental activist emailed the agency last month and informally requested testing results. Instead of providing that information, however, a state official told the activist that a report would be prepared and shared with policymakers in January.

"I was very disappointed," Doris Cellarius told The Oregonian/OregonLive. "Because I figured government has ways of managing massive amounts of data, and they probably could have told me something." The Oregonian/OregonLive filed its records request Oct. 16 and received the first batch of data two weeks later. -- Brad Schmidt

bschmidt@oregonian.com

503-294-7628

@_brad_schmidt