One month after a report done by a team of pool experts outlined needed repairs at the Vashon Pool, the process to bring the pool’s drain into compliance with federal law is underway.

The Vashon Park District (VPD) has secured the services of those same experts to temporarily permit and fix the pool’s drain.

According to the May report created by Tacoma-based ORB Architects, the pool’s drain is not in compliance with the 2008 Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act, a federal law that calls for safeguards to ensure the suction from pool drains is not strong enough to pose a trapping and drowning risk. Architects estimate that fully rerouting the pipes to bring the drain into compliance will cost roughly $79,000.

ORB’s report indicates that non-compliant drain covers were replaced when the pool was under county ownership in 2008 or 2009, but the pipes were never fully re-routed to meet requirements. A 2009 permit application that would have approved the current drain covers needed to be signed by King County, but expired and will need to be resubmitted.

“It’s a very complicated process,” VPD Executive Director Elaine Ott said.

At a recent meeting, VPD board members voted to pay $5,000 to secure the services of ORB Architects to help the district through the permitting and repair process.

At ORB, architect Geoff Anderson said that the process is underway.

“The plan now is to prepare documents and get a permit so they can make repairs (in the off-season),” he said. “The main drain needs to be fixed.”

Anderson said that the pool has an operating permit and is operating under existing conditions, but is not “fully compliant.”

Pool manager Scott Bonney said the pool has passed every safety inspection conducted by the county and Public Health since the facility was entrusted to VPD in 2010.

“We passed every inspection with flying colors,” pool manager Scott Bonney said. “Last year, (the inspector) said she needed the final report about Virginia Graeme Baker retrofits and repairs. I said she would have to check with the county as they were managing the pool when the law was passed.”

That’s when it was discovered that there had been a permit application, but the process was never completed.

“The current (drain) configuration is nothing to worry about,” Bonney said. “There is less pressure than is concerning in the parameters of the law.”

Anderson said that the architecture firm received the permit application last week.

Seattle-King County Public Health inspectors did not return calls Monday afternoon.

“We’re still working on the final plan and looking at other pools and strategies,” Bonney said.