By Wayne Allen

PDT Staff Writer

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act became effective on Dec. 19, 2008. The law requires installation of anti-entrapment drain covers. There are some pools in the area that will delay openings to make the required changes.

The Shawnee State University Warsaw Natatorium has a sign on its door saying that it will be closed indefinitely for the upgrades and other needed maintenance issues.

“The law requires that pool and spa drain systems be updated to comply with new safety laws. We (SSU) are going to drain the pool May 6 and have new drains put in May 11,” Elizabeth Blevins, director of the Office of Communications at SSU, said. “While we have the pool drained we are going to go ahead and do some routine inspections. (We’ll) take the opportunity to do some other maintenance to it. The pool will reopen after we have completed this process.”

She said the opening will depend on what issues are found and how long the other maintenance takes.

“Once the pool is drained it will be a good opportunity for us to go in and check everything out,” she said. The cost for the repairs of the drains in the pool and the spa at SSU are estimated at more than $3,000, she said.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) under the law, all public pools and spas must have compliant drain covers installed and a second anti-entrapment system installed, when there is only a single main drain.

“Our mission at the CPSC is to keep American families safe,” Nancy Nord, CPSC Acting Chairman said in a released statement. “CPSC 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.”

According to the law, the CPSC and state Attorney Generals are empowered to close down any pool or spa that fails to meet the act’s requirements.

The City of Portsmouth completed some upgrades to the McKinley pool last summer. Because the work was being done, it delayed the opening of the pool until later in the summer.

“It would have required us to take some additional steps. In my study of the act and what the CPSC has suggested through their guidelines, we are in compliance,” Chris Murphy, city of Portsmouth City Service director said.

The pool is slated to be open just after Memorial Day, around the first of June. Plans are to keep the pool open until (or the first week after) schools starts back in the fall.

“In talking to the Mayor (Jim Kalb), the admission (for the pool) this year will be a dollar,” Murphy said. “We had the admission at $3. The mayor decided that we would only charge a dollar this year. With times being a little difficult for everyone, it just seemed like the right thing to do.”

For more information about the Pool and Spa Safety Act, how to comply, and which companies have been certified to manufacturer drain covers and safety vacuum release systems, please log on to: www.cpsc.gov/whatsnew.html#pool.