Feature Story

May 2021

CPSC Awards More Than $860,000 in Pool Safely Grants

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced five awardees of a grant program aimed at preventing pool and spa drownings and drain entrapments. The state and local governments, selected by CPSC, will receive more than $860,000 in Pool Safely Grant program funds. This funding will provide financial assistance for education, training and enforcement of pool safety requirements that are intended to save lives and prevent serious injuries.

The 2021 grant awards for fiscal year 2021 include:

• Florida Department of Health ($248,695)
• DuPage (Ill.) County Health Department ($291,811)
• County of Middlesex (N.J.) ($128,800)
• District of Columbia ($54,993)
• Loudoun County (Va.) ($142,968)

"Unfortunately, drowning remains the number one cause of unintentional death to children ages 1 to 4," said CPSC Acting Chairman Robert Adler. "These grants will help states and local governments reach consumers with lifesaving information to prevent pool and spa drownings and entrapments, and will help them to enforce pool safety requirements."

"Throughout my career I have been a passionate advocate for pool and spa safety. We must do more to stop these preventable tragedies, and I know that these grants are one of the key steps we can take to help save more children's lives," said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "My overall goal is to reduce the number of child drownings across the country, and we can accomplish that be teaching children to swim, ensuring pools have the right safety equipment, and educating parents on the critical importance of supervising children in and near the water."

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGB Act), which Wasserman Schultz authored and led, was signed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2007. The VGB Act authorizes the pool safely grant program, which provides state and local governments with assistance for education, training and enforcement of pool safety requirements.

More information on the VGB Act and the grant program can be found at www.poolsafely.gov.