Advocates Remind Pool Owners Of Safety Laws In Wake Of Islip Drowning

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The drowning of a child on Long Island has safety advocates reminding pool owners of mandatory safety laws.

Learning how to swim and safely navigate pool waters is a rite of summer for kids.

Alicia Apolinaris told WLNY-TV's Long Island Bureau Chief Richard Rose that she brought her 3-year-old son Nikolas to the Bay shore YMCA, because he's not too young to learn.

"I'm kind of glad I signed him up for swim lessons so he gets comfortable in the pool," she said.

Drowning is the leading cause of death for very young children, it's a danger that became all too real this weekend in Islip.

As neighbors milled about during a block party, 5-year-old Carissa Walker wandered into a backyard pool and drowned.

The homeowners did not want to speak on camera. Neighbors said they are still shaken with no clear answers as to how the child was left unattended in the pool.

Islip town officials said the accidental tragedy reinforces both a parent's and a pool owner's responsibility.

"You can not ever leave children out of your sight, even if they know how to swim. You just don't know what might happen," Angie Carpenter (R) Islip Town Supervisor, said.

Robert Lucia has been selling backyard pools for nearly 30 years. he said he constantly reminds pool owners of the tough New York state laws that not only require outside fencing around pools, but ladders that can either be locked down, raised, or hidden, as well as high-decibel alarms in the pool that can sound when a child enters the water.

"It will sense any type of displacement in the water, and or motion. It actually has two sensors on it so you don't get false alarms," Lucia said.

Lucia warned that safety measures can still fail if parents don't maintain a watchful eye.

Pool owners who don't install the mandatory safety measures can face fines and even lawsuits.