Quality of Life Committee

Meeting notes - May 7, 2009

Wendy Natt, May 07, 09.

PUBLIC MEETING NOTES

Today, Director of Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Joe Turner, and other HPARD representatives presented the City of Houston’s Quality of Life Committee with a report on the City’s progress in bringing all public pools in the City’s system up to federal safety compliance standards established by the recently passed Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGB). Council members present at the meeting included Committee Chair Sue Lovell, Wanda Adams, and Toni Lawrence. Staff representing the offices of several other council members were also present.

The Federal law is named for the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker III, who was killed after the suction from a spa drain trapped her underwater. Under the law, all municipalities are required to modify or repair pool suction systems and drain covers in all public pools so that they meet the federal requirements for public pool and spa safety. The deadline for complying with these requirements was December 19, 2008, or on whatever date thereafter a pool becomes open to the public.

In his presentation to the Committee, Joe Turner said that Houston has a total of 39 outdoor public pools and 1 indoor pool, all of which had to be inspected and will need modifications in order to be compliant with the VGB. Work on drain covers, and in some cases, suction drain modifications, is ongoing. A pool equipment manufacturer who attended the meeting showed the committee an example of the type of drain cover that would be used in the modifications to Houston’s pools.

According to Turner, HPARD has met with a variety of agencies and experts who have assisted in determining what the City needs to do in order to meet the requirements of the VGB and obtain certificates of compliance from project engineers. Health Department officials have played a major role in determining what work must be done, and approval of certificates of compliance cannot occur until each pool is inspected and approved by the Department, said Turner.

Council Member Toni Lawrence asked why no Health Department officials were present at today’s meeting, and requested that they be required to attend the next QOL meeting. She said that the Committee needs to see the databases on all pool facilities in the city, public or semi-public (hotels, apartments), that fall under the VGB’s set of compliance requirements.

Certificates of compliance are now in on 28 of Houston’s pools, and 5 pools have been fully approved by the Health Department, reported Turner. Another HPARD representative noted that there were real concerns over whether any Houston pools would be open this summer, but that this enormous joint effort has made it likely that the large majority of pools will be open. According to Turner, openings will occur in two phases, first around May 23, then another group of pools will open around June 5.

At the end of the HPARD presentation, Turner emphasized another fundamental requirement for increasing pool safety:  teaching all of Houston’s children how to swim. He proposed as a long-term goal the building of 4-5 public natatoriums scattered throughout the city to provide places where all kids can learn how to swim year-round. It is “crucial,” Turner emphasized, that these facilities be located on METRO light rail or bus lines so that no children are denied access to swimming lessons. He said that one Houston TIRZ is currently talking with HPARD about building just such a transit-accessible natatorium using TIRZ funds.

Following the presentation to the Committee, only one person had comments - Andy Teas of the Houston Apartment Association. Teas noted that while there are 40 city-run public pools in Houston, there are 2,500 apartment pools, and that the new federal requirements pose a “mammoth undertaking” for property owners. He stated that Texas recently passed updated swimming pool safety regulations in early 2002 that accomplished largely all of the same safeguards as the VGB, only using slightly different methods. Teas said that the new federal compliance standards have “less to do with safety, and more to do with lawsuit avoidance and swimming pool equipment sales.”

For more information on Houston public pool openings, see the HPARD 2009 summer activities catalog.

Houston Apartment Association offers summer swim safety programs with the Red Cross and the YMCA.

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