THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407090238
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Some owners of public wading pools on the Outer Banks may have to upgrade them within the next month or close them, under a proposal in the General Assembly.
All public wading pools in the state that are less than 18 inches deep and have a single drain will have to shut down or have another drain added within 30 days of the bill becoming law.
The Senate concurred with a House amendment Thursday granting pool owners a 30-day grace period to comply with the measure, and the bill is expected to become law within the next few days.
One Dare County pool consultant and inspector said Friday that while the new law will cause problems for some Outer Banks pool owners, the measure is needed to protect young children.
``I'm an advocate for this bill,'' said Linda Darling, an Outer Banks pool consultant with Aqua Clear Technology Inc. of Kitty Hawk. ``The force of one main drain in a kiddie pool is a lot stronger than the force from two drains.''
Even if the drain is covered, sometimes the drain cover is removed and the children using the pool can be exposed to danger from the suction caused by a single drain, Darling said.
The legislation comes a year after a 5-year-old girl in Cary almost died after she sat on an uncovered drain and was severely injured by the suction of the drain.
Officials with the Division of Environmental Health said about 100 to 150 pools would be affected by the legislation, based on informal surveys of county health departments.
The new law will affect single-drain shallow wading pools owned by hotels, motels, swim clubs and others open to the public for a fee.
The exact number of pools in eastern North Carolina that will be affected by the new measure is not known. In 1993, the General Assembly passed a law that prohibited any new wading pools having less than two drains. But it didn't cover existing pools.
In May, a state health panel approved temporary regulations requiring pool owners to install special drain covers that cannot be removed without tools and to post signs warning adults to check drain covers themselves.
The new law could cause trouble for some pool owners when it goes into effect at the peak of the summer swim season.
Pool owners may have to close their wading pools for several days to add the second drain and will have to shut down for the summer if they don't comply.
The repairs could cost between $500 to $1,500.
A spokesman for Sen. Linda Gunter, D-Wake, sponsor of the pool-safety bill, said the cost of installing the second pool drain is minimal when compared with medical bills of $12,000 to $16,000 a month faced by Valerie Lakey and her family. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
by CNB