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.