The bursting of the real estate bubble has meant many things to Americans – foreclosures, loss of consumer confidence, and a general dipping of the economy that has many citizens worried about the future. It may also mean something that not many have taken into consideration – the possibility of swimming pool accidents in homes abandoned due to foreclosure.

In the city of Rialto alone, there are 853 properties lying abandoned and unused.  So far, officials have taken about 155 calls for abandoned pools. Of these, 21 calls remain active. 

The danger of swimming pool accidents claiming lives or causing injuries is acute enough to have alarmed the authorities into action. Fire and law enforcement agencies in San Bernardino are meeting with child safety experts to formulate a plan to alert the public to the dangers of swimming pool accidents posed by abandoned pools.

The problem is serious enough to warrant attention. Between 2000 and 2005, there were a total of 44 drowning-related deaths in San Bernardino County.  The prospect of large pools lying open and easily accessible to curious kids playing in the neighborhood is an alarming one, and officials are very concerned about the possibilities.   Apart from the risk of drowning by small children not old enough to swim properly is a host of other dangers too. Most of these pools have been lying vacant for months now, ever since the foreclosure dam broke, and the water in them has turned green with slime.  The murky water conceals many hidden risks – plastic bags that could easily entangle and drown kids who happen to fall in.  Not only that, these pools have been lying stagnant for a long time now, and the water had been left untreated.  The possibility of the water being a health hazard is extremely high, and could easily cause serious illnesses in kids who fall in and swallow a few mouthfuls of the water.

Calls to secure these abandoned swimming pools are growing louder. Although the County has the authority to drain the pools, this would be a last resort option, officials say because of the huge expense involved in draining out every single pool that belongs to an abandoned home.  Instead, contractors are hired to nail plywood barriers or fencing around the pool to prevent swimming pool accidents.

Nationwide, the highest number of drowning deaths in children aged between 1 and 4 involve swimming pool accidents in the home.  Child safety experts have repeatedly stressed the importance of setting up alarms around the pool, and to fence the area around the pool to prevent access by an unsupervised child.  Even with all this emphasis on swimming pool safety, the incidence of drowning-related deaths in kids has risen a whopping 89 per cent between May and August this year.

With so many hundreds of pools lying vacant and presenting a high danger of swimming pool accidents, we hope the authorities take the task of securing these abandoned pools seriously and finish the process as quickly as possible.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of swimming pool accidents.  Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.