• Arizona pool safety laws aim to keep small children from drowning.Swimming pool and pool house image by Jim Mills from Fotolia.com
  
  Arizona is a very hot and dry state. As a result, swimming pool ownership is widespread. The Arizona legislature has enacted some general guidelines for pool safety designed to keep small children from getting into a pool area and falling in. The laws of Arizona in this area solely deal with the possibility of small children drowning in the family pool. None of these regulations include public pools.
  
  

Definitions

• A "swimming pool" is defined as any body of water that is designed primarily for swimming and, therefore, excludes reservoirs, fish ponds and water storage areas. The pool must be at least 18 inches deep and 8 feet wide, at the very least, to be considered a "swimming pool." Anything else is considered a pond.
  
  

Barriers

• The primary regulation is that all private pools be enclosed by some type of nonporous barrier (that is, it must be solid or with small holes, like a metal fence) that is at least 5 feet tall. Importantly, the wall or barrier must not be climbable, and there can be no large openings. All gates that govern the entrance to the pool must be self-closing and self-latching. The latch itself must not be any lower than 54 inches from the ground. The barrier itself must be at least 20 inches from the water.
  
  

House Entrances

• The laws permit the family house to constitute part of the barrier that surrounds the pool, but only under the following conditions: each ground-level door that opens out to the pool area must be self-closing and self-latching and the pool must be properly covered with a motorized safety cover specifically designed for pool use. Or, the pool, itself, must be above ground, with a wall at least 4 feet in height that cannot be climbed. In addition, if the house forms part of the barrier, then every (first-floor) window must also be latched in such a way that it cannot open more than 4 inches.
  
  

Realtor Responsibilities

• When a home is sold or rented that includes a pool, the realtor, or whoever is doing the selling or renting, must describe the basic concepts of pool safety and maintenance to the prospective owner or renter in accordance with the guidelines laid out by the Arizona Department of Health Services.