As the golden rays of sun beat down, many Charleston citizens retreat to cool places of comfort.

What better way to cool off than swimming in a local public pool? But one emergency amendment is leaving some residents muggy and steamed.

In 2007, the federal government passed the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. This act requires all public pools in the United States to be equipped with anti-entrapment drains or anti-suction devices. The act also states that these drains must be installed by their opening dates in 2009.

This act came into effect after the efforts of Nancy Baker, who explained the need for the drain covers. Baker informed the nation of the story behind the death of her daughter, Virginia Graeme, known by friends and family as simply Graeme.

Graeme was said to be swimming in a family friend’s hot tub during a graduation party. Graeme went under water and couldn’t come back up due to the suction of the drain. Baker jumped in after her, but she alone couldn’t pull her from the suction. Two male partygoers retrieved her only after they cracked the drain grate to break her free. According to the act, “Of injury-related deaths, drowning is the second leading cause of death in children aged one to 14 in the United States.”

Since the government is putting this act into effect, it is taking some pools so long to open up, such as the University Court pool.

“We had the work scheduled and in order so we could be in compliance with the act,” Dave Crockett, Assistant Director of Maintenance and Operations, said. “Then the Department of Public Health put an emergency amendment into effect.”

According to the amendment, the date to have all pools in compliance with the act was December 19, 2008.

The amendment then says, “Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) did not issue formal guidance and interpretation regarding the provisions of the VGB Act until October 1, 2008, leaving only a short window for the states, industry and operators to comply. CPSC has issued subsequent interpretations and guidance documents as states, industry and the regulated public identified questions and areas of concern.”

Currently Crockett is working with a state pool inspector and the contractor scheduled to fix Eastern’s public pools.

“It’s just a matter of paperwork,” Crockett said. “We have two drains in the diving section where people don’t linger anyways. It isn’t like the (Lantz) pool is unsafe. We knew about the act and were working on it months in advance. The emergency amendment is what is setting us back. We’ve been told by the pool inspector that we are fine (to open the Lantz pool) as long as we are working on the problem. They understand that it was rushed and don’t plan on prosecuting anyone.”

The Lantz pool will be closed this week for an unrelated fix.

“We scheduled to fix the grate problem for this week, but the emergency amendment wouldn’t allow us to do that until the paper work was reviewed by pool engineers,” Crockett said. “Instead we scheduled to work on taking out the diving boards. They were getting old and presenting potential problems. We plan on going back in late summer or early fall to fix the grate problem.”

Brad York can be reached at 581-7943 or at bayork@eiu.edu.

The Ray Padovan Pool in Lantz Arena is closed from June 5 to June 15 for diving board repairs. The Virginia Graeme Baker Act did not affect the current closing but will cause closures in the future. (Photo Illustration)

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