The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/11/08
Inspectors did not find any safety violations Monday at Sun Valley Beach in Powder Springs, the day after a 5-year-old boy drowned.
Inspectors found too much chlorine on the shallow end, said Chris Hutcheson, of the Office of Environmental Health, part of Cobb County & Douglas Public Health.
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The inspectors closed the pool for a short time Monday, but later re-opened it after the chlorine levels were corrected, Hutcheson said.
The water park, like other public pools in Cobb, is not required to have lifeguards, said Tom Campbell, the environmental health district director.
If no lifeguards are present, the county code requires signs that say: "Warning no lifeguard on duty."
It's up to the water park "to [provide] what feels safe and adequate," Campbell said.
Cobb police identified the boy in Sunday's drowning as Kavi Patel of Smyrna. It was the second drowning this year at Sun Valley.
Sun Valley officials did not return telephone calls and e-mail requests for comment.
The boy's body was found in five feet of water, said Cobb police Sgt. Dana Pierce.
Detectives believe Kavi's parents lost sight of him for a few minutes, Pierce said. The parents notified fellow patrons and lifeguards.
Kavi was pulled from the water about 4:20 p.m. and lifeguards administered CPR.
He was flown to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. Doctors were unable to revive the boy, Pierce said.
In May, 16-year-old Ifeanyi Odihe drowned during an outing to celebrate the end of school at South Cobb High School Academy of Research and Medical Sciences.
Odihe's body was pulled from 12 feet of water. The teenager knew how to swim, his family said.
On May 29, two days after Odihe drowned, inspectors found problems with the pool's water quality, according to reports obtained through the Georgia Open Records Act
An inspector noted that the pool operator needed to maintain chlorine at minimum levels. The inspector also noted that life preservers with ropes were required.
Pressure gauges to the backup sand filters were missing or broken. A water flow meter was also not working.
On June 5, an inspector found that emergency phone was not charged.
In a July 10, an inspector found that the water clarity issues were corrected. But chlorine levels were too high on the shallow end and a required phone was not charged.
"Check daily," the inspector wrote of the telephone.
In 2007, the park opened its triple slide area to the public before it had been inspected.
"Very disappointed reopened without inspection," wrote an inspector in an Aug. 8, 2007 report. "Triple slide area re-opened illegally."
Water quality issues were also found in 2007.
On May 19, 2005 an inspector found a series of problems: "depth markers were not present at all; even at 14 feet. Correct ASAP," the inspector wrote.
The inspector also found that a required log of readings ended on May 17 and that a "test kit is in poor repair."
Odihe's death was ruled accidental. But his family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Sun Valley.
"You wonder how many deaths it take to warrant a more thorough investigation," said Atlanta attorney Harold Spence, who is part of the legal team that filed the lawsuit against Sun Valley on behalf of the Odihe family.
In the lawsuit, filed in Cobb State Court in June, attorneys for the Odihe family allege that the park's carelessness caused the teenager's death.
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