The Hidden Safety Hazard of Improper Pool Drains
New Law Requires US Public Pools to Install Anti-entrapment Drains
Apr 1, 2009
Summer is around the corner and adults and kids alike are looking forward to summer sun and water fun. But how safe are our pools? Lurking in every pool is a possible safety hazard: a drain that has the ability to suction with a force of up to 350 pounds of pressure. That is strong enough to trap a grown adult male at the bottom of a pool or spa.
Hot Tub Suction Caused Virginia Graeme Baker to Drown
Seven years ago, Virginia Graeme Baker, the seven-year-old granddaughter of the former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, drowned after being trapped at the bottom of a hot tub from its strong suction force.
After watching her daughter die, Nancy Baker went on a mission to make sure her daughter didn’t die in vain. She teamed with Safe Kids USA, founded by Children’s National Medical Center in Washington and legislators to pass a law that would ensure that pools didn't pose a safety hazard.
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, passed in 2007, requires all public swimming pools and spas be fitted with proper anti-entrapment drain covers by December 2008. If a Pool or spa has a single main drain it also must install a back-up system, such as an automatic pump shut-off. Those that are not in compliance are subject to closure.
Enforcing the American Swimming Pool Safety Law
However, the agency overseeing the law, The Consumer Product Safety Commission, is not large enough to enforce the law and is therefore leaving the enforcement to state public health and safety departments. Because some towns are more lenient than others, many pools are still not in compliance.
Some pools that are not in compliance argue there wasn’t enough time to fix the drains. Others complain that the cost is too great for a risk that is rare.
According to the Pool Safety Council, most pools can easily be fixed by retrofitting their drain covers for a cost between $1,000 and $1,500. Other pools need more extensive plumbing work that can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000.
To have pools ignore this law infuriates Baker. As quoted in a CNN article, “Some Ignore Law to Prevent Pools from being Child Deathtraps” on January 15, 2009 by Mallory Simon, she says, "If you make the choice not to put on this cover, you're leaving open the chance for a child to sit on a drain and then be so horribly injured that they'd be without their intestines, without their colon, and basically live a life on a feeding tube."
According to Safe Kids USA, the statistics for entrapment are probably grossly underestimated. Between the years of 1985 and 2004 only 33 deaths have been reported. Yet it is a very likely many more drowning deaths occurred as a result of entrapment, but because it was an unknown danger, it was not reported properly.
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