ADA to Affect Pools

[Liz Waters]

After twenty-five years of the ADA’s opening doors and opportunities for individuals with a disability, another realm of activity will now be accessible to all.
Since 2004, Accessibility Guidelines for Recreational Facilities have
recommended that pools be made accessible for everyone, but remained
recommendations, unenforceable and largely optional for pool managers. This
fall, the guidelines, with slight modification, were at last released by the
United States Department of Justice as standards. This makes them requirements
for pools located in facilities that serve the public. On September 15, 2010,
the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design were published in the Federal
Register. These standards, revisions of the ADA guidelines, will become
effective one year after that publication which means they will become the law
of the land on September 15, 2011. A six-month grace period will give facility
owners an opportunity to bring their pools up to code before the law becomes
enforceable on March 15, 2012.

 

The standards are based on the U.S. Access Board’s 1991Guidelines “harmonized” with the federal standards implementing the Architectural Barriers Act in 2002, and
Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and
apply to public and privately owned recreational facilities. They include
standards for every sort of recreational facility including amusement rides,
fishing piers, golf courses, shooting ranges, boating facilities, bowling
lanes, miniature golf courses, and exercise equipment.   Basically these standards ensure
that no one can be denied access to activities because of a disability. These
regulations are huge in scope and scale, and written in legal language, and
will require some modification for many facilities.  For owners of swimming pools, wading pools and spas that
serve the public, this means some modifications to the facility will be
required. New facilities should, of course, be built in compliance with the
standards. For the more than fifty million Americans with some sort of
physical, sensory, cognitive, or mental disability, the guidelines now destined
to soon become law guarantee an opportunity to maintain or improve fitness
levels through aquatic exercise.

 

No longer are these guidelines that facilities may or may not follow, but regulations that must be met. They stipulate, for example, that every pool used
by the public must have some type of aquatic access. This can be a pool lift, a
moveable floor, sloped entry, or transfer system. Pools under 300 linear feet in
perimeter must have one such device and pools over 300 linear feet in perimeter
must have two.

 

In most situations, a pool lift will be the least expensive and easiest way for pools to provide the needed access to swimming pools. The regulations are quite
specific about what features a pool lift must have to correctly comply. The
seat should be easy to move into and must have a footrest; the height from the
deck to the seat surface and the clear area required around the lift are
specified in the rule. Another imperative is that the person must be able to
operate the lift and that the controls to do so are within easy reach from both
water and deck.

 

As always, there are conflicting claims from companies anxious to sell one product or another about what the law will actually require. To avoid purchasing
compliance items that do not fully meet the standards, it is always best to
read the documents. Further, facilities may find tax incentives and other
financial assistances at that website. The standards are explained in great
detail on the government website at ADA.gov. Specific questions can be
addressed to the ADA’s access specialists at 800-514-0301. 

[Kevin Tucker]

Excellant information- Thanks! Now I just need to digest it a bit- and thanks for the links to ADA.