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With the warmer weeks fast approaching, Council reminds all pool owners and residents about pool safety including always supervising children.

Drowning is a leading cause of accidental death in very young children across Australia.

Tragically, every year many children drown in backyard swimming pools.

³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ pool fencing and effective supervision can reduce these tragic drowning deaths to zero.

Council’s Manager Planning Building and Health Francois Van Der Berg said there are over 500 backyard swimming pools in the Leeton Shire and the owners of these facilities need to be very diligent about swimming pool safety.

“It is vital to ensure supervision of children and check the operation of your pool gate and latching mechanism and rigidity of the barrier,” said Mr Van Der Berg.

“It is equally important to check that trees and other objects such as pot plants and taps are not located in places that could be used for climbing into the pool area.

“Inflatable and portable swimming pools that are capable of being filled with water to a depth greater than 300 millimetres must comply with the same pool barrier requirements as regular swimming pools,” said Mr Van Der Berg.

To assist pool owners to ensure safety, a home pool safety checklist with more details can be downloaded at https://www.swimmingpoolregister.nsw.gov.au/checklists

Council has a statutory obligation to undertake swimming pool inspections.

Residents are advised that Council will continue to implement random pool inspections to ensure back yard pools comply with legislated requirements.

All residents and ratepayers will receive notification in writing prior to an inspection taking place.

If you have any further questions regarding the inspection program, please phone Francois Van Der Berg on (02) 6953 0911 or email [email protected].