New federal laws to ensure the accessibility of public pools come into play as many operators still struggle with the murky issues raised by the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act.

Right now, club members everywhere are filling up group exercise classes, putting in extra time on the cardio machines and booking spa treatments in a last-minute push to be ready for pool season.

Club operators also have a pool deadline looming. Just two years after updating their pool drains to comply with the Virginia Graeme Baker (VGB) Pool & Spa Safety Act, operators of public swimming pools, wading pools and spas must be prepared to comply by March 15, 2012, with the new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design, issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Most public aquatic facility operators already are familiar with the majority of these ADA access standards, which were finalized in 2004 as guidelines. However, as of September 2010, they became legal standards, and they include a few major changes operators may not yet know about. Making these changes could be costly for many facilities—but it could prove even more costly to be ignorant of details of the new law, as some found when the VGB Act came into effect.

Previously, ADA guidelines called for one means of accessible entry for each pool. The new law is more specific, requiring a lift or sloped entry in pools measuring less than 300 lineal feet. Pools larger than 300 lineal feet must have two means of access—the first must be a lift or slope, but the secondary means of access can be either of those or a transfer wall, transfer system or stairs.

In addition, wading pools must now have a sloped entry. This requirement is likely to have the greatest financial impact on pool operators. Not only would club operators lose income during renovations due to a closed pool, but the cost of adding a sloped entry would run about $20,000, according to Andrew Lacelle, an aquatic designer at the architecture firm Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative, Denver. Even the less-expensive options for ADA compliance could be difficult for many already cash-strapped facilities to afford. With pool lift prices ranging from about $4,000 to $8,000, adding a second means of access to each pool or spa at a large public facility can become expensive.

Craig Feldman, aquatics program coordinator for the Federal Way Community Center in Federal Way, WA, says the pools and spas in his facility, which opened in 2007, are already compliant. However, he says the cost of ADA compliance may be too great for many of the state’s community pools.

“A lot of our pools are fairly old,” he says. “Many were built out of a 1969 bond issue. Their lifespan was supposed to be 30 years, so they’ve already exceeded [that], and they’re just trying to limp along.”

At LifeCenter Plus, a for-profit fitness facility in Hudson, OH, the club’s aquatics program director, Jim Clark, is still assessing how to ensure LifeCenter is ADA compliant by next March. But he says he is ahead of the game because he is aware of the requirements while many of his colleagues are not.

“This is all clear as mud right now to most people in the industry,” Clark says.

While both operators raise valid concerns, Jen Hartfield, government affairs director for the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP), says ADA compliance should not be a worry for most club operators because the bulk of the access standards—and the equipment and knowledge needed to implement them— have been around for years.

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