Local authorities say they’re playing “catch-up” to bring their pools up to code to comply with new national drain cover regulations or face getting shut down this weekend.
The Pool and Spa Safety Act, enacted last December, is designed to protect swimmers from potential drowning or dismemberment by creating better safeguards against drainage suction.
“We’re working with our manager about getting that stuff taken care of — we know what we need to [get] done,” said Peter Haack, recreation supervisor for the Montgomery Aquatic Center. “We’re doing what we can.”
Effective Saturday, all public pools and spas open year-round need new drain covers installed and a second anti-entrapment system if there is currently only one. Outdoor or seasonal public pools need to be in compliance when they open in 2009.
Suction entrapment kills one or two children per year, according to data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Attention focused on the issue after the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker drowned in 2002 after being sucked onto a pool drain.
Marc Mordue, senior environmental health specialist with the Fairfax County Health Department, said he thought the law caught a lot of people off guard, but he expected the county’s 85 indoor pools to satisfy expectations of the CPSC — charged with enforcing the law — by Saturday.
“Our mission at [the commission] is to keep American families safe,” said Nancy Nord, CPSC Acting Chairwoman. “[The commission] will enforce the requirements of this pool and spa safety law with a focus on where the greatest risk of drain entrapment to children exists, such as wading pools, pools designed specifically for toddlers and young children, and in-ground spas, particularly where these types of pools and spas have flat drain grates and single main drain systems.”
Fairfax Health Department spokeswoman Tina Dale added that 50 of the county’s 650 outdoor pools have already been inspected as of Wednesday, all of which are in compliance with the new regulations.
Mary Anderson, spokeswoman for Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services, said that there are a total of 635 licensed pools and spas in the county and less than a quarter of those would be affected by Saturday’s deadline.
But, said department official John Munley, “at this point, if anything, we’re playing catch-up”
