The needs of the many

Yesterday, NPR's Marketplace did a story about the effects of the Virginia Graeme Baker Act , which requires all public pools to make it impossible for anyone to get their fingers or toes caught in the drainage system. Unless they comply, they can't pass inspection this year.

The story cites an estimate that this may cost up to $1.5 billion and has already forced the closure of ten pools in Georgia because the state can't afford the retrofit and possibly many others, although there's no tally of the total.

The law is "named after former Secretary of State James Baker's late granddaughter. She's one of nine people who've died over the last decade from the forceful suction of pool or hot tub drains."

I am reminded of someone (of course I can't find the citation now) saying, with regard to children's safety on the Internet, that hundreds of kids die every year in swimming pools, but we don't close all the pools--we teach our kids to swim. Hmmn.

The needs of the many

Yesterday, NPR's Marketplace did a story about the effects of the Virginia Graeme Baker Act , which requires all public pools to make it impossible for anyone to get their fingers or toes caught in the drainage system. Unless they comply, they can't pass inspection this year.

The story cites an estimate that this may cost up to $1.5 billion and has already forced the closure of ten pools in Georgia because the state can't afford the retrofit and possibly many others, although there's no tally of the total.

The law is "named after former Secretary of State James Baker's late granddaughter. She's one of nine people who've died over the last decade from the forceful suction of pool or hot tub drains."

I am reminded of someone (of course I can't find the citation now) saying, with regard to children's safety on the Internet, that hundreds of kids die every year in swimming pools, but we don't close all the pools--we teach our kids to swim. Hmmn.