Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the story Beneath the surface of an inviting pool is a death trap.
A powerful suction force created by the pool's pump and drain cover.
That is where a child’s hair or parts of their body can get tangled in it and even trapped.
The
Consumer Product Safety Commission has a video demonstration on their website. It shows the power of suction the pump could have. It would take four grown men to move a ball trapped by the suction.
Serious injuries have ranged from bruising and horrible scarring to disembowelment and drowning. Since 1990, there have been more than 103 injuries and 27 deaths.
Eight year old Virginia Graeme Baker died at a birthday party. She was trapped by a drain in a backyard spa.
Her mother couldn't save her.
“I kept pulling at her never understanding what it was that was holding her down and I couldn't get her off,” said her mother.
The little girl's grandfather was former Secretary of State, James Baker.
The
Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act went into effect last December.
Pool owners were given a year to get ready, but many in the Valley aren't.
The City of Glendale has one pool done and four pools are in the process of being renovated.
Gilbert has three public pools ready and two still to complete.
Mesa has eight city pools ready and three left to complete while four will remain closed all summer.
Peoria has all three of its pools ready.
Scottsdale has eight pools with state-of-the-art pumps, but they all need new drain covers.
Goodyear also has a state of the art pump, but still needs to change the drain covers.
And Phoenix is about half way done. They have 10 ready and 11 more to complete. Eight will be closed all summer.
Tempe and Chandler did not respond to our survey.
The Attorney General can close down pools for breaking the new law. But so far, that hasn't happened.
The new law does not apply to homeowners, but since so many of the tragedies happen at home, the industry is urging everyone to get the new covers.
They run about $40.
We tagged along with County Inspector Israel Reynaga for a morning.
He quickly came across an apartment complex in the West Valley with an illegal drain cover.
But county inspectors can only enforce state code.
The new drain cover law is federal and not part of Arizona’s law.
So this violation is out of Reynaga’s hands.
But, the inspector was still able to close down this pool because the gate was not working properly - a violation of state code.
Around the Valley, many cities are scrambling to comply with the new law for opening day Memorial Day weekend.
