Have Bikini, Will Sit

More and more of the greater Los Angeles area is going under water every year. There are some 80,000 private pools, and new pool permits are issued at a rate of 12,000 a year. Two out of every nine pool owners in the U.S. live there and cavort in 1,600,000,000 gallons of precious rain water brought in by aqueduct every day. But into every pool of rain water somebody's little life may fall. From 1952 to 1959, 102 people drowned in the backyard. And the present accident rate costs Los Angeles some 30 lives a year. By law, pool owners must fence pools off from public access. To forestall accidents, some nervous pool owners use tarpaulin or plastic covers on their pools. Others have rigged them so that an untimely splash sets off an alarm.

The newest job classification in the California State Employment offices is the "pool sitter," a job for teen-agers who can produce a Red Cross Junior Life Saving Certificate. Earning up to $100 a month for this part-time task, teen-agers are taking to it like ducks to water. One sweet sixteen sends out calling cards to pool-owning parents, advertising: "Have Bikini, Will Babysit."

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