The stormwater drain where three young girls nearly drowned after being swept away by strong floodwaters will be reexamined for safety by the ACT Government.
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Three girls, aged between 13 and 14, slipped into the waters of Yerrabi Pond in Gungahlin on Friday October 12.
The girls were trying to cross a footbridge over a stormwater drain, which was flooded with about 30cm of water after heavy rains the day prior.
One of the girls slipped as she was trying to cross a gap between two supporting handrails.
Those handrails, pictured, do not run along the length of the bridge, and force pedestrians to cross over the stormwater drain without anything to hold on to.
That design is completely at odds with a second footbridge over a stormwater drain on the opposite side of the pond.
A father of one of the girls, Chris Blight, criticised the handrails, saying a proper railing would have almost certainly prevented the ordeal.
He fears that more pedestrians, particularly young children and teenagers, could be swept out into Yerrabi Pond during heavy rains.
"I don't even get what the railings are supposed to do... they don't actually help people over the stormwater pathway," Mr Blight said.
"If the railings actually went along the path, then we wouldn't be having this conversation," he said.
"You've actually got to let go to get across, you've got no handrails, so that's why the kids would have slipped, because there was just nothing to hang on to as you pass the key part of the stormwater drain."
The ACT Government yesterday agreed to review the hand railings at the stormwater drain in light of the incident.
But a Territory and Municipal Services Directorate spokeswoman said the handrails met the government's safety standards.
