ANDERSON — Many of Madison County’s large indoor pools are in compliance with a new nationwide law that will require all pools to have anti-drowning drain covers.

Most area high schools have large enough pools that they have two drains, making it virtually impossible for a swimmer to get stuck by the drain’s suction, said Glen Nelson, principal at Pendleton Heights High School.

Dec. 19 was the deadline for all pools to comply with the new federal law, passed by Congress in December 2007. It’s called the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, after the 7-year-old granddaughter of former Secretary of State James A. Baker, who died when she was became stuck to a spa drain in 2002.

According to Nelson, the Pendleton Heights pool has two 6-foot-long grates for drainage, making it compliant with the new law.

“The understanding that our maintenance guy has is that we are in compliance because of our drainage system,” Nelson said. “We probably won’t have to fix anything.”

Although most large pools seem to be in compliance, many pool administrators aren’t exactly sure what the new law will mean for them.

Karl Gregg, maintenance supervisor for Elwood Community Schools, said the school system had just heard about the law this week and wasn’t sure whether it would have to add pool changes to an already-planned renovation project.

Gregg said the school’s pool had two drains that were far apart, already making it virtually impossible for someone to get sucked to them.

The law calls for all publicly used pools, including those in hotels, private clubs and apartment complexes, to have drain covers that meet anti-entrapment standards. If pools have one drain, they must also install a second drain system or an external shutoff.

Angie Harrison, aquatics director at the Anderson Family YMCA, said that facility’s pool also met the requirements as much as possible.

“We are in compliance to the best of our ability to this point,” she said.

The YMCA’s pool drains are unblockable because of their size, and if they were found to be not in compliance, the custom drain covers would have to be rebuilt, creating a financial burden on the facility.

The YMCA also has dual drains, and Harrison said she was confident of their safety for swimmers.

On a national level, the YMCA is having more trouble dealing with the new law, which has put a burden on some of its U.S. facilities, Harrison said. The national organization is doing what it can in a non-financial capacity to help those branches.

Madison County has seen the effect of unsafe pool drains. In 1999, 10-year-old Alexandria resident Harmony Tobin drowned in 1999 when she was stuck by suction to a drain pipe in Alexandria’s Beulah Park. That 6-inch-wide pipe, however, did not have any kind of cover and projected from the side of the pool.

The Madison County Health Department generally is in charge of inspecting pools, but the department has not been instructed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission — the national organization charged with enforcement of the law — on how to make the new law part of its routine inspection, health department Environmental Supervisor Brandon Clidence said.

The department tries to inspect every pool in the county yearly, although Madison County does not have a pool ordinance mandating that, Clidence said.

Scott Murr of Anderson’s Mermaid Pools said his business has been working diligently for three months in preparation of the new law. The business has sent certified letters to all its commercial accounts informing them of the new law, and since then, it has been receiving phone calls asking the business to assess what each client needs to do to be in compliance.

“Every one of them is going to need something done,” Murr said.

Mermaid Pools, which primarily deals commercially in smaller hotel and apartment complex pools, sent out about 100 letters. Less than half generated responses, Murr said, indicating some pool owners either might not be paying attention to the new law or may not be not worried about being up to code in the winter season.

The biggest obstacle with the new law is that drain cover manufacturers haven’t kept up with demand.

“Everybody’s demanding to get these, but they just haven’t produced enough of them yet,” Murr said.

It could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 or $6,000 per pool to change drain covers, but Murr said the issue is of utmost importance.

“Anytime when you’re dealing with people dying in the swimming pool, it should be No. 1 in importance,” he said.