California's Swimming Pool Safety Act is getting an upgrade in an effort to reduce child drownings.
The new law will update the state's 20-year-old pool safety act by requiring two products, out of seven options, to be in or around new and remodeled pools, NBC4 media partner KPCC reports. It also seeks to bring older facilities in line with the new code.
Between 2010 and 2014, more than 160 children age 4 and under drowned in California, according to state public health data. And between 2010 and 2015, more than 740 children between one and four years old in the state were hospitalized after almost drowning.
The new law is meant to increase safety by making it more difficult for a child to access a pool.
"We're going to create an obstacle course, so if the child gets outside, the child's going to have to go through a number of barriers before he or she reaches the pool," said Drowning Prevention Foundation board member Marcia Kerr. The foundation helped to author the new legislation.
