ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida makes a lot of money off its swimming pool industry, but a debate in the Florida Senate on Wednesday will determine who, if anyone, actually checks to make sure the pools are safe.
The Health Department inspects every public pool in the state twice a year. From big companies to mom and pop motels, inspectors check everything from water quality to electrical wiring to drain covers, but that could change.
Recently, the Florida House changed some language in a bill to eliminate overlap between code enforcement officials and the Health Department when it comes to pool inspections.
LINK: Swimming pool safety tips
Code enforcement can inspect a new pool when it's built, but according to the House plan, the Health Department would no longer be checking key safety features on the more than 37,000 public pools that are already in the state.
They could check pool water quality but would no longer have the authority to write violations for any other safety problem.
The department writes a lot of violations on public pools in the state. From April 2014 through now, more than 95,000 violations were recorded.
More than 2,800 alone were for problems with drain grates, officials said.