What the Virginia Graeme Baker Act Asks of Public Pools and Spas With a Single Main Drain

This article summarizes what the Vacless site says about the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. It is not legal advice, and it is not a compliance ruling for any particular pool. Requirements are applied by the authority having jurisdiction where the pool is located, which may be a health department, a building department or another body. Ask them what applies to your facility before you buy or install anything.

Where the Act comes from

The president signed the Act into law on December 19, 2007. It is named for Graeme Baker, the daughter of Nancy Baker and the granddaughter of former secretary of state James Baker, who died in June 2002 after the suction from a spa drain held her under the water. The Act was first introduced by Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida and had the support of the Baker family and Safe Kids Worldwide.

The numbers the Vacless page quotes from the Consumer Product Safety Commission are these. There was an annual average of 283 drowning deaths (2003 to 2005) and 2,700 emergency room-treated submersion injuries (2005 to 2007) involving children younger than 5 in pools and spas. From 1997 to 2007 there were 74 reported incidents associated with suction entrapment, including 9 deaths and 63 injuries.

What the quoted text requires

The Vacless page reproduces a paragraph from the Act's required equipment section. Read in order, it says the following.

• Beginning one year after enactment, each public pool and spa in the United States must be equipped with anti-entrapment devices or systems that comply with the ASME/ANSI A112.19.8 performance standard, or any successor standard.
• Each public pool and spa with a single main drain, other than an unblockable drain, must be equipped, at a minimum, with one or more of the listed devices or systems designed to prevent entrapment.
• The first device listed is a safety vacuum release system: one that ceases operation of the pump, reverses the circulation flow, or otherwise provides a vacuum release at a suction outlet when a blockage is detected.
• That system must have been tested by an independent third party and found to conform to ASME/ANSI standard A112.19.17 or ASTM standard F2387.

The paragraph quoted on the page refers to the SVRS as the first of several listed options. The page links to the full text of the Act, so read the other options there rather than relying on a summary.

Drain covers are a separate requirement

The page also points out that on or after December 19, 2008, swimming pool and spa drain covers sold in the United States must meet specific performance requirements, and that public pools, wading pools, spas and hot tubs must meet requirements for installing compliant drain covers. In certain cases, it adds, public pools and spas must also have additional devices or systems designed to prevent suction entrapment. The cover and the vacuum release system are different parts of the picture, which is why Vacless says its valves should always be used with an approved anti-entrapment drain cover.

The Act is administered by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The Vacless page links to a CPSC staff interpretation and to an APSP/PHTA summary analysis. Both are worth reading if you manage a facility.

Where the Breather fits

Vacless states that its Breather systems are IAPMO listed per ANSI/ASME A112.19.17 and designed to comply with APSP/PHTA-7 and International Code Council requirements, and that it is recognized by the Consumer Product Safety Commission as an approved manufacturer of ANSI/ASME A112.19.17 safety vacuum release systems. A certificate of listing is available on its site. For pools with a single main drain, the company says an installation takes less than 5 minutes and costs a fraction of other approaches. Treat those as the manufacturer's claims and confirm them against the certificate and the manual for the exact model.

Questions worth asking before you buy

• Does the local authority having jurisdiction accept a vacuum release system on this pool, and does it want documentation?
• Is the main drain a single drain, or is there more than one? Is it classed as unblockable?
• Is the drain cover in good condition, and is it the approved type for the flow rate?
• Which Breather matches the pump, the pump location and the piping?

Dealers can answer the last one. Use the dealer locator on this site to find a distributor, and keep the commissioning record, because the warranty registration form asks for installer, customer, commissioning date and site address.