Spa pools and garden ponds will no longer require fencing off under a new law.
Changes to the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987 will also require swimming pools to be inspected every three years.
Currently pool owners in Auckland are subject to the mandatory inspections, which cost $144 each time, and Minister for Building and Housing Nick Smith says soon the whole country will get the same treatment.
"Out of New Zealand's 86 councils there are only six that have any rules around regular inspections and certification. The new law will mean a consistent approach right across the country."
The law changes are expected to reduce the number of children drowning each year from 20 to 14.
"What we're wanting to do with this law is to get a healthy balance between making children as safe as possible from the risk while not getting into petty nanny-state laws that will drive average Kiwis who just want to enjoy a pool mad," he says.
Dr Smith says New Zealand's 100,000 spa pools pose a low risk of drowning to small children.
They will comply with the new law if they restrict access to young children by having a lockable, child-resistant cover and are at least 760mm above ground.
He says garden and drainage ponds are also excluded from the swimming pool fencing requirements, which have given the existing law a bad name for being impractical and rarely enforced.
Infinity pools or pools with a cliff face will not require fencing on all four sides.
Newshub.
