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GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

Swimmers enjoy the water at the War Memorial Pool in Amherst in July 2003. Both the Mill River Recreation Area pool and the War Memorial Pool are closed for the season but will be subject to retrofitting for new drains per federal law. Town Manager Larry Shaffer said he is unsure whether the work can be done on the pools in time for next summer.

Pool owners all over the country are scrambling to comply with a new federal pool safety law that goes into effect next week and is bound to shut down many public and semi-public swimming pools across the country, including some here in Hampshire County.

Locally, pool owners are already bracing for closures, even if temporary, as they figure out how to pay for and modify pool drains to comply with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, which takes effect Dec. 19.

The new law requires pool owners to install anti-entrapment drain or grate covers, which are designed to protect swimmers and those using public hot tubs from suction entrapment. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is administering the law, which can result in civil and criminal penalties against pool operators who do not comply by next week's deadline.

--Follow-up story: What the Consumer Product Safety Commission says about pools staying open past the deadline

Public safety officials and pool operators say the law is important, but it also is jeopardizing municipal, college and university swimming programs as well as year-round recreational opportunities.

"They all have to do something," said Northampton Health Agent Xanthi M. Scrimgeour, of the city's nearly two dozen public and semi-public pool operators.

Among the pools that will require modifications in Northampton are those at Hampshire Regional YMCA, Smith College and JFK Middle School.

"It's really put everybody in an incredible quagmire," said David Marks, CEO of the YMCA in Northampton. The Y, he said, must modify the drains in its two pools, including one built in the 1970s.

Marks said he has been working on a solution for months and may have found one. He said whatever changes are necessary, the YMCA will have to close the pools at some point, even if only temporarily.

"Until we know what the solution is, I don't know what the answer is," Marks said. "We have a lot of people counting on us, and we're being as proactive as we can be."

Last week, Amherst school officials announced the Dec. 19 closure of the Amherst Regional Middle School pool because they cannot comply with the law in time, or even afford to make the changes necessary.

All three municipal swimming pools in Amherst may need expensive repairs to comply with the new federal regulation, said Town Manager Larry Shaffer. He said fixes could cost around $50,000 per pool, according to estimates provided by the town's facilities director. It likely means the end of Leisure Services and Supplemental Education aquatics center programming in two weeks.

"We are planning on closing the programs unless we can get a waiver, because we don't think we can get a fix done in time," Shaffer said.

The Mill River Recreation Area pool and the War Memorial Pool are both closed for the season but will be subject to retrofitting. Shaffer said he is unsure whether the work can be done on the pools in time for next summer.

As pool operators scramble to stay open, state leaders say they have not been provided enough information or the resources necessary to provide local health officials and pool operators, including municipalities, with effective guidance.

"Frankly, we really don't know what to tell them because of the federal government's lack of information," said Suzanne Condon, director of the state Department of Public Health's bureau of environmental health. "The only guidance we've been able to give is that pools are supposed to close."

Condon said the state does not have the authority to grant waivers under a federal regulation.

Why the law?

The 2007 federal law, which goes into effect a year to the date after being enacted, is named for the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker. Virginia Graeme Baker, who was 7, was killed in 2002 when she was entrapped in the drain of a spa.

Other young children have been seriously injured by entrapment, which has caused disembowelment in some cases, according to national reports and information provided by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

"The federal requirement is coming into play at a time when pool operators and local officials are wondering what it is they're supposed to be doing," said Condon. "Asking people to begin enforcing a law without the tools being provided to comply with the law is difficult and only something the federal government can answer."

Meanwhile, Condon said Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach is sending a letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission requesting clarification and more information about the law, including whether pool operators can get waivers if they do not comply by the Dec. 19 deadline.

She noted that the pool industry is not equipped to meet local and national demand for the new equipment. "There's no capacity to comply in many, many areas," she said.

The commission could not be reached for comment for this story.

Some already in compliance

While most pools will need modified drain systems, others will not.

Easthampton Health Agent Dennis Lacourse said that city was proactive when it installed a pressure-relief valve system in the city's public pool at Nonotuck Park several years ago. He said the pool's pump system automatically shuts down if there is pressure on its drains and that the system complies with the new law.

"We did that as a safety measure for that pool," he said.

But there are four other pools in the city that will require inspections, including those at White Brook Middle School, the Williston-Northampton School, and two pools at Town Crier condominiums on South Street.

"We just have to make sure they're in compliance with the anti-entrapment," Lacourse said, noting that the risk for drain entrapment "is a very serious, very real problem," particularly for young people.

"There's a lot of pressure in these main drains if there is a pump system," he said.

Ken Shapiro, owner of East Heaven Hot Tub Co., which operates a hot tub spa on Green Street in Northampton, said his eight hot tubs are already equipped with drain systems that comply with the new law and he is not likely going to need to make any changes. Other business owners are not so fortunate.

Scott Finch, director of operations of the Amherst and Northampton Athletic Clubs, said the pool at the Amherst location will likely need a $2,000 repair, but he's not so sure he'll get the supplies he needs in time to comply with the new regulations.

Finch said he's received vastly different quotes within the pool industry for the work he needs to have done and described the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act as "a bad law with every good intention."

"I think it's ridiculous, considering the supply problem that is out there and figuring out how to comply with it," Finch said.

Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com. Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.