http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/loc ... x-20110629

I've got no words really. How does this happen exactly?

If the water's cloudy, and it's deep, it would be rather easy to lose a body. Why the lifeguards ignored the kid is probably because they didn't want to get in that water. I posted last year about a disgusting pool at a hotel. I saw a woman walking in this pool and I couldn't see her feet!

Yeah, I remember when you posted that. Man, that is nasty!

I feel very sad for the family.
The situation at the pool gets worse. Somehow two inspectors missed the body.
(http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/06/30/s ... -for-days/)

That pool was cloudy. 12 feet down there she couldn't be seen. The pool is also getting cloudier and cloudier. You can see the difference between a couple different videos shot from the air. The video in the first post here, you can see the lines. A video I saw on another station filmed what looked like later in the day (story wasn't as fresh as the first one), the lines are almost gone.

Makes you wonder... why let the pool get that cloudy in the first place. Obviously something was wrong and if those inspectors said everything was fine except cloudiness... someone dropped a ball somewhere.

What I don't get is how someone can be babysitting a family at a pool... and not leave the facility with said family. Then no one noticed she didn't come home with her charges?? No one who knows this person bothers to mention she disappeared for two whole days? How does that work?

Every health code that I am aware of requires that the deepest part of the pool be visible or the pool must be immediately closed.

... no words ....

She didnt drown in that pool I dont think. Somethings fishy about it. A lot of us up here think she was dumped. That pool was full of people when it supposedly happened. Even a little cloudy, someone would have seen her. The medical examiners report is due in a few days. We'll see then.

To add greed to idiocy, apparently people who had kids swimming over those 2 days are considering suing because their children were exposed to the "diseases" of a dead body. I was immediently reminded of the stories from here of racoons getting under winter covers. Proper chlorination would take care of any diseases, not that there are any from a body that hasn't begun to decompose. Now sue over mental trauma and that might be a different case.

Still, even before I read James' post about it being a regulation I couldn't help but wonder why a public pool was cloudy and remained open. This is the exact reason why those rules are there!

That theory sure would explain why the people she was babysitting (for) didn't bother to notice she didn't go home with them that day.

Except that I saw an interview with her friends, and they said they figured she went home early and they took the kids back with them and took care of them waiting for her to show up again.

This is an absolute SHAME!
As an operator, and director of numerous aquatic facilities, during every in-service, I remind my guards that if they cannot CLEARLY see the main drains(bottom of the pool) of the swimming pool, the pool is to be immediately closed. "If you cannot see the bottom of the pool, you will not be able to see a body" is my motto. They are also aware of entrapment-risks to prevent this type of tragedy.
This is heartbreaking. Every individual responsible for that SOLE pool needs to be held accountable. If the pool operator was not aware of the issue with the water clarity, than why did his/her guards(staff) keep the pool closed & notify the pool operator? If the pool operator WAS aware of the water clarity issue, why did he/she ALLOW THE POOL TO REMAIN OPEN?!
In dealing with health inspectors in various states, how could the 2 inspectors(on 2 different days) allow this pool to remain open when the bottom of the deep end was not CLEARLY visible on either day?! Especially with all of the VGB-Act information swirling around...how did these clowns inspect the main drains for compliance if they were in fact in the deepest part of the pool and not even visible???
If the victim did indeed drown elsewhere & was placed in that pool, either way, the pool staff and health inspectors should have had that pool closed for the water clarity issue, regardless of what the chemical readings were. In my experience, 90% of the health inspectors do not properly test the water, or will just read the pool's logbook where often times the lifeguards simply pencil whip the readings...
This tragedy is a wake-up call for all pool personel around the country. Everyone needs to do the right thing and follow all safety precautions because this can happen to anyone at any pool. As an industry, we all need to educate our staff on all safety hazards, including water clarity....

I can't believe the statement in one of the articles: "Lauren Smith, state public health medical director, said it's unlikely that anyone's health is a risk. "I want to reassure the public (that) as disturbing as it is to you, there are no health risks associated with this," she said."

I ask how can you have such cloudy water and not have a health risk!? Obviously, most people (from lifeguards to swimmers) know nothing at all about pool water. It is screaming-scary that the state public health medical director is one of these know-nothings!

(I just heard about this tonight on this forum. And to think I've been wondering lately about how the water clarity at my health club pool has been slacking off and that I should say something to someone about it or, as DH says, just call the health department.)

All very upsetting.

Lana

Jobs programs.

It is not about the quality of the job, but that some person who otherwise would not have a job is employed. So, the lifeguards on duty did not want to report the pool was unsafe and jeopardize their hourly pay. The inspectors did not want to deal with the paperwork of reporting the clariity as bad and unsafe. The kid and the parents who lost their babysitter should have known better, unless both parties were so flaky that such an event was not that remarkable.

I would do both. Notify the health club and report it to the health dept.... chances are the health club is already aware of their water clarity situation, but are too concerned with other matters to tend to it.
The health department should (and a good health inspector) will close the pool if the water clarity or anything else with the pool is not in compliance and the health club will not be able to open it until the issue(s) are resolved and the pool is re-inspected.

Sic the health department on 'em! I did, and it felt good. Most government agencies are backlogged. So the quarterly visits are usually annual or biennial, unless they get a tip. And if they get a tip, it means they'll probably find something to cite, something interesting for a change.

Wondering if this could be one of those drain issues where they suck people down to the floor (after she drowned, I mean). How could she have been missed if not on the bottom? How long until a body floats?

Yeah but to leave kids you were in charge of and think that? Dunno wonder whats to come next?

There were a few updates over the weekend. The medical examiner said that she drowned and had been in water for two days. Visibility tests the day she was discovered showed less than four feet of visibility, while twelve feet is required. Logs show that the pool has been cloudy since it first opened for the summer.

Google the words "revived bottom pool" and you'll get pages of hits where someone was first noticed unconscious on the bottom and was saved. Being able to see the bottom of the pool is critical.