After 70 Drownings, Lowey Pushes for Stronger Pool Safety Regulations

Since Memorial Day this year, 70 children nationwide have died in swimming pools, deaths experts and law makers believe could have been prevented.

"In addition to being a congresswoman, I'm a mother and a grandmother of eight," said Nita Lowey, US Congresswoman from New York's 18thDistrict, which includes much of Westchester and Rockland Counties. "I have taken pool safety as a primary cause because the numbers of children who die are staggering."

In fact, Lowey said it is expected 3,000 kids will die in swimming pools nationwide this year. 

On Friday, Lowey spoke at Anthony F. Veteran Park in Ardsley, highlighting precautions public, private and residential pool owners should take to keep kids safe.

In 2007 Congress passed the Pool and Spa Safety Act, a law requiring public pools and spas to have drain covers to protect children from the tragic and insidious hazard of drain entrapments in pools and Jacuzzis. 

"I heard a terrifying story from a pool manager in Greenburgh that the suction from a pool drain had pulled a child flat so that they couldn't get up," Lowey said. 

She is now pushing to extend the federal law to cover private and residential pools as well, but so far these pools' managers can be only encouraged—not legally bound—to use drain covers.

Parents or other adult supervisors, Lowey said, also bear a large part of the burden in keeping kids safe in the water.

"I urge parents to ask questions about the safety of the pools where their children swim and to ensure supervision by an adult or certified lifeguard anytime kids are in or around pools," she said.

And more than just making sure facilities are adequate, Lowey stressed the importance of keeping an eye—both eyes—on children at all times while they're in the water.

"There's no excuse for taking your eyes off kids even for a second, regardless of how well they swim," Lowey said, commenting that too often a group of kids will be supervised by only one adult. 

In June an 11 year-old boy drowned on Long Island in a residential pool at his friend's house, Lowey said, and added that even adults are not immune to drowning.

"A man visiting from Maryland drowned at a private pool in White Plains this year," she said.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), American Red Cross and YMCA of the USA have teamed up to produce public service announcements intended to encourage water safety steps they believe save lives.  Suggestions they make include: installing door alarms, learning CPR, adding fencing around pools and spas, and installing safe drain covers. 

American Red Cross of Westchester County CEO John Ravitz was also in Ardsley Friday, asserting his organization's dedication to minimizing the number of deaths in the area from swimming pool negligence.

"A critical goal of the American Red Cross of Westchester is to provide pool owners and operators the tools they need to keep swimmers safe during the summer months," Ravitz said. "These initiatives include training lifeguards and educating about water safety."

Despite the chilling anecdotes Lowey uses to describe the grave importance of her cause, she is a strong proponent of public and private swimming pools—just as long as they're safe.

"Pools are great things," Lowey said. "Especially on a hot day like today. My main cause is to make sure they're used correctly and kids are protected."