Information on the New American with Disabilities Act for Swimming Pools and Spas

The new Americans with Disabilities Act, which is not actually new, but modified to include public pools and spas, can be somewhat confusing. I have found this chart to simplify the permitted means of access:

Click on chart to enlarge

As you can see, the American with Disabilities Act includes all size pools, whether Wave Action Pools, Standard Pools, Leisure (Lazy) River Pools, Wading pools, and all Spas.

All swimming pools which fall into the Title II or Title III category of the ADA must have either swimming pool lift or sloped entry as the primary means of access. If your swimming pool has over 300 linear feet of pool surface, you must provide a secondary means of access for swimmers. This can be in the form of a transfer wall, transfer system, pool stairs, or you can opt for an additional swimming pool lift or sloped entry. For spas, it obviously makes no sense to use a sloped entry, because of space constraints, but either a transfer system, transfer wall, or a swimming pool lift are acceptable as a primary means of access.