Pool & Spa Safety Act

Why not use something like inlet pressure as a criterion? I think you could plug in the numbers and prove that a pool with certain pumping equipment and drain configurations (number and size of drains) does or does not have a risk of entrapment and whether special grates are required.

I swim at UMASS, and apparently, the attorneys there did not find a way to keep their three pools open. It's been a nightmare, frankly. And since everything had to go through the state, and the grates are all L-shaped, they had to put everything out to bid, open the bids, then deal with the whole production and installation process. We have been told that February is the earliest we can expect to be back in there. In the meantime, we are all making the best of it and losing our swim conditioning little by little...

One of the pools I like to frequent is only open a few hours during the day because of a lifeguard requirement (I'm not even sure the little 16 year old girl perched on the life-guard stand, dressed in sweats and a swim parka could even rescue my bloated ***). Speaking as one from the drowning capital of the country, I would prefer more access to pools, more personal responsibility in watching your own kids, and less bs legislation that drain community budgets--but I know that train is long gone.

That's going to take a while to drain and refill! It absolutely will take a while, and not that it will take this long, but we have our Regional Championships there in another couple of months!

I have to say that this federal regulation/law, being an "aquatic professional", has thrown several monkey wrenches into the system. While the enforcement of the law has been placed with the local and/or state health departments, the CPSC has been given authority of supervising these actions and decisions. That being said, local and state health departments have very few people employed that are able to fully analyze a pool filtration system which forces them to close the aquatic facilities due to their lack of knowledge and experience. This law, by the way, was formed primarily for unsupervised pools and spas (hotels, etc) where severe injury and fatalities have (unfortunately) happened.

Oh (and allow me to apologize for the rambling), I also wanted to ask everyone here what other routes the government could've taken (or added) for the act? My thoughts: Mandate that all commercial pools and spas be supervised, and mandate a swimmer to lifeguard ratio Mandate that everyone take swimming lessons and at least pass a minimum competency/efficiency level Mandate a minimum age that the child can be in a pool and spa without parent Mandate a certain minimum pool and spa rules to be enforced by all aquatic facilities Just some ideas...I agree with the purpose of the act, but I don't think that it is the cure-all.

Harvard's Blodgett Pool re-opened several days ago. The parts arrived, and were installed by a diver without draining the pool. -Rick

Harvard's Blodgett Pool re-opened several days ago. The parts arrived, and were installed by a diver without draining the pool. -Rick We were looking into a diver for our pool to avoid draining, but it is significantly more expensive...must be good to be a college facility!! Thanks for the update!!

I haven't heard of any pools here in the Midwest being shut down of late, and I'm sure my local Rec Center pool drain cover doesn't meet these specs. Is it just a matter of time, or a matter of waiting for someone to be killed locally, or what? If they are deemed "safe to operate" then they should be fine, but the pool and other aquatic facilities that aren't safe to operate without the drains and pressure switch will be shut down sooner than later.

... While the enforcement of the law has been placed with the local and/or state health departments, the CPSC has been given authority of supervising these actions and decisions. That being said, local and state health departments have very few people employed that are able to fully analyze a pool filtration system which forces them to close the aquatic facilities due to their lack of knowledge and experience. ... I haven't heard of any pools here in the Midwest being shut down of late, and I'm sure my local Rec Center pool drain cover doesn't meet these specs. Is it just a matter of time, or a matter of waiting for someone to be killed locally, or what?