PORT ANGELES — The William Shore Memorial Pool will be closed from Saturday through Aug. 2 for annual maintenance.
The maintenance includes several small repairs, cleaning of equipment and the installation of drain covers intended to reduce the risk of a swimmer getting a foot caught in the drains.
The covers are mandated by federal requirements created in 2007.
Corey Delikat, parks and streets superintendent for the city of Port Angeles, said the new covers cost about $5,500.
The city also paid the manufacturer, Aquatics Specialists of Seattle, about $1,300 to assess the pool’s drains before installing the new covers.
Aquatics Manager Jayna Lafferty and Delikat said the drain covers were required to be installed by last Dec. 17, but the actual covers weren’t even available then.
“As soon as they were available, we got them,” Delikat said.
Pool, Spa Safety Act
Because they weren’t available by the deadline, Lafferty said the state Department of Health, which is overseeing compliance of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act of 2007, is not issuing penalties.
The act is named after former Secretary of State James Baker III’s granddaughter, who drowned in 2002, when she was 7 years old. A drain in the hot tub she was in sucked her to the bottom and no one could free her in time to save her.
Lafferty said that the pool’s drains are gravity-fed, and do not use suction, so the risk of injury is almost non-existent.
Delikat said the act also places requirements on surge tanks and the size of water pipes. The pool already complies with those requirements.
“We didn’t have to modify it for anything,” he said.
The William Shore Memorial Pool District took ownership of the facility Wednesday, but the city will continue to operate it until the end of the year.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
