Almost four years after a 5-year-old girl drowned in a Pearl City drainage pond, the state Senate is considering whether more regulation would prevent a similar tragedy in the future.

On the table are a variety of safety measures to keep people from accidentally entering the ponds, which can fill up quickly during a heavy rain and might be deceptively deep.

The bill was inspired by Charlotte Paige Schaefers, known to her friends as "Sharkey," who drowned in a rain-swollen detention pond in a Navy housing facility when she jumped into the murky water after a younger friend.

Her mother, Allison Schaefers, and brother Joshua, 12, joined Sen. Will Espero and Sen. Clayton Hee at the state Capitol yesterday to talk about "Sharkey's Bill," which addresses safety at ponds meant to hold storm water and runoff.

The bill, among other things, would require that such areas be clearly marked so people are aware of the potential danger. "They should be marked as drainage ponds. They're not recreational facilities," Schaefers said.

In addition to requiring fences around the ponds, Schaefers wants to make sure there is rescue equipment and an alarm system set up at each pond.

The Navy has since erected permanent barriers around the pond — which was about 50 yards long at the time of Schaefers' death and can get as deep as 8 feet. In addition, the Schaefers family won a $2 million settlement from the Navy and Hunt Building Co., the subcontractor that built the Pearl City Peninsula housing complex.

Since the tragedy, the Navy has started inspecting that particular detention pond regularly, and Senate Bill 2884 would require annual inspections of all ponds meant to hold rainfall. In addition to a variety of other safety measures, the bill would require that ponds be enclosed with chain-link fences at least four feet high.

Espero, who introduced the bill, said it was unfortunate that the legislation is in response to a tragedy but said it has the potential to prevent another one.

Hee, who has scheduled a Feb. 11 hearing on the bill before the Water and Land Committee, said Charlotte's death has called attention to an important public safety issue.

"The tragedy is very straightforward," he said. "The solution would be a little more complex."

Hee pointed out the federal government isn't held to state law, so a pond in military housing wouldn't necessarily have to follow the regulation.

In addition, the law would affect private land, in addition to public land, and could affect ponds built into golf courses, or specifically designed to control flooding in residential areas.

The large pond behind the Hygienic Store in Kahalu'u is one example of a flood-control project, while some golf courses are meant to serve as holding areas for storm water to mitigate flooding.

Hee said this particular bill could be challenging to pass, but he wants the ponds to be safe. "The issue itself has merit," he said. "Whether this is the solution remains to be seen.

Peter Yamashita, general manager of Olomana Golf Links, said that particular course is not an official drainage area, but water from Kalaniana'ole Highway and Waimanalo Valley flows onto the course.

"If the tide is high, the water has nowhere to go and it backs up on the golf course," he said.

However, while a particularly hard rain could create ponds up to 5 feet deep on the course, the golf course closes when there is lightning and heavy rain and safety hasn't been an issue.

"We've never had a situation where water was an issue and people were in danger," he said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.