Rescue dog falls 30 feet, survives — A search and rescue dog with Mountain Wave Search and Rescue fell 30 feet off a cliff while on a hike with her handler and survived. Opal, a yellow Labrador, has multiple fractures in her paws after falling on a trail above Siletz Bay earlier in the week. She was hiking with her handler, Barbara Linder, when she ran ahead and took a leap and landed far below the trail on sharp rocks. The vet says it’s amazing the 4-year-old dog wasn’t injured more severely and credits her fitness from working as a search and rescue dog. Opal will need six to 12 months of rehabilitation before she can work again. The dog has been volunteering with Mountain Wave since 2014.

Rules require day cares to test water for lead — A state board has approved rules requiring Oregon day cares to test drinking water for high levels of lead. The state Early Learning Council on Thursday approved the rules, stipulating that day cares must test the water and submit the results to state regulators by the end of September. The rules apply to more than 4,000 licensed day cares across the state and to unlicensed day cares that receive government subsidies. Under the new standards, water taps used for drinking, cooking, preparing food or infant formula must be tested. Day cares will be required to test their water every six years. New day cares seeking state licenses also will be required to test their water.

DEQ: Contaminants found in wells on north coast — A survey of groundwater wells by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality along the north coast has found nearly 40 contaminants in residential and irrigation wells, a newspaper reported Friday. Contaminants identified in Clatsop and Tillamook counties include nitrates, pesticides, metals and bacteria. Many were within federal guidelines, but some were not, including two wells that tested above the limit for arsenic. The survey of 69 residential and irrigation wells included wells serving a fish hatchery and a public soccer field in the two counties and is part of an effort to compile groundwater aquifer data statewide that was authorized by state lawmakers in 2013. Ten pesticide-related chemicals were detected. All were at levels below health standards. But DEQ noted that little research has been done on the effect of multiple chemicals on human health.