Update on the Pool requirement for hotels under the ADA.

Hotels, water parks, and other facilities with pools recently got another extension to comply with American Disability Act standards, the Associated Press reports.

The Justice Department initially set a March 15, 2012 deadline, but last week extended it to early next year. The ADA rules in question, published in 2010, require new pools to have built-in lifts. Owners of older pools hoped they could be ADA compliant with portable lifts, but in January the Justice Department issued technical guidance, requiring fixed lifts at existing pools. The document was updated May 24.

Also, there’s an exemption that allows existing pools to avoid the requirement if owners find compliance is “not readily achievable.” Determining if a pool could use that exception, the AP reports, could be difficult.

On Thursday, the Justice Department said pool owners who bought portable lifts before the previous March 15 deadline would be in compliance, providing the lift is in place when the pool is open.

“We got such an overwhelming response indicating the widespread misunderstanding of the law and indicating that the pool lift manufacturers are having trouble meeting the demand, so we wanted to make sure people had enough time,” Eve Hill, a senior attorney in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, told the AP.

Some say the hotel industry is behind the deadline extention. They also blame election year politics.

“It’s a little disingenuous to say that came out of nowhere,” Heather Ansley, a lawyer with United Spinal Association, told the AP.

You can read the original story here.

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This is some useful information from SRS Smith which provides Swimming Pool Equipment.

They are located in Oregon and Tennessee but should be familiar with CA pool laws. Their guides are published and I have linked them below as for the Americans with Disabilities Act (2010), they are useful.

Remember, under the ADA 2010 “safe harbor” does not apply to swimming pools which need to be compliant for the new requirements effective back in Sept 15, 2010.

Accessible Swimming Pool Guide

ADA Swim Equipment Guide

So if you have a pool and any equipment associated with pools, please look at these standards and see if your pool access is ADA compliant. Also you can contact them at http://poollifts.com/contact/ if you have specific Pool Questions!

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