After watching a report on “The Today Show” this week, Pat Gallant had teary seniors approaching her, worried the YWCA pool in Lewiston would shut down Saturday.

Gallant assured them the pool complied with a new federal law; there was no risk of it closing. And even pools that have yet to comply don’t need to worry yet, according to the state.

The federal Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act takes effect Friday and aims to keep swimmers from becoming stuck in the strong suction of pool drains by requiring new anti-entrapment drain covers on public pools and spas.

The act is named for the 7-year-old granddaughter of James Baker, the former secretary of state. The girl drowned at a graduation party in 2002 when the suction from a drain pinned her under water.

Some drain covers are hard to come by and the waiting list is long. Gallant, YWCA interim executive director and aquatics director, ordered a pair Nov. 7. They arrived five weeks later. The new bright white covers were installed 10 feet down, at the bottom of the pool, by a diver Tuesday.

There are between 350 and 400 public pools in the state and letters went out to every owner several months ago, said Lisa Brown, director of the health inspection program at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Owners of pools only open in the summer don’t have to comply with the law until opening day, Brown said. If they don’t have covers in place by Friday, owners of pools open now have to show good-faith efforts, such as having their names on waiting lists and divers lined up to install covers, she said.

“People are really trying to comply,” Brown said. “Some of the equipment is not even manufactured yet.”

She won’t make rounds Saturday to start closing pools without drain covers. Ten inspectors work in her program. They’ll monitor compliance during routine inspections, she said.

If someone is out of compliance and making no effort, inspectors have the power to shut down a pool.

Covers aren’t expensive, Gallant said. A pair cost the YWCA $400. The drains are part of the filter system, taking water from the bottom of the pool and circulating it to the top.

“I don’t know of any case (of drain entrapment that’s) ever happened in a commercial pool,” Gallant said. “A lot of the accidents have happened in hot tubs,” where the drains are feet away.

This time of year, the YWCA averages 800 to 1,000 swimmers per day.

“Our patrons were all thrilled” to learn there wouldn’t be a shutdown, she said.

Jim Lawler, executive director of the YMCA in Auburn, said he believed his pool was already in compliance because of a redesign that moved the drain from the bottom of the pool to the side, but he also had a cover on order.

“We’re going to put on that added protection,” he said.

Maggie Chisholm, Lewiston’s recreation director, said work had begun for the pool in Kennedy Park. A cover will be in place by summer.

She hadn’t had any issues with children being caught in the pool drain.

“It doesn’t hurt, though, to be cautious,” Chisholm said. “We never mess with water.”