The DuPage County Health Department received a $182,388 grant to go toward pool safety training.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission awarded the grant to provide assistance for training and education of pool safety requirements, intended to save lives and prevent serious injuries.
Technical solutions to prevent suction entrapment drowning incidents that can occur at pools will also be addressed.
“The main drain cover at the bottom of a typical pool used to be flat and the new drain covers have a kind of dome shape to them so that if somebody swims over that drain and their body lands on top of it, water can still get through and then their body won’t be trapped to the bottom of the pool,” said Kevin Dixon, the director of environmental health services at DCHD.
DuPage County has about 700 public pools and spas, while there’s an estimated 10,000 residential or private pools.
The USA Swimming Foundation says this year, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, at least 148 children younger than age 15 fatally drowned in swimming pools or spas in the U.S.
In Illinois, there were six pool and spa drownings involving children younger than 15 during the same period.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
