© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bill Would Limit Pressure Of Water Features At Splash Pads, Waterparks, Or Spas

toddler plays on splash pad
Christin Lola
/
Shutterstock.com

When you take your kids to a water park or splash pad, you might worry about them falling or drowning. But you probably don’t worry about them getting internal injuries.  But that can happen, and a new bill in the Ohio Legislature aims to stop that. 

In 2019, Kim Manion allowed her daughter, Makenna Day, to attend a birthday party at a Cincinnati area water park. A little while later, she received a frantic phone call. 

“My baby girl was hysterical. She couldn’t tell me what happened," Manion tells lawmakers in a recent Ohio House Committee hearing.

Makenna, now 8, told lawmakers what happened.

“I stood over a water squirter and got hurt, really bad," Makenna says.

Manion says the high-water pressure caused a vaginal laceration that required seven stitches, barely missing Makenna’s cervix.

This bipartisan House bill would limit the water pressure settings for splash pads and water features so they couldn’t hurt kids. It’s still being discussed in committee but could become “Makenna’s Law.”  
Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Jo Ingles
Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment.