A four year old girl is in a serious, but stable condition in Tauranga Hospital's intensive care unit after a near drowning at the Mount Maunganui Hot Salt Water Pools.

The near drowning occurred at the hot pools on Adams Avenue at about 7.30pm on Wednesday.

St John medical staff say the girl was taken to hospital quickly.

Mount Hot Pools.

Tauranga City Aquatics Limited CEO Tania Delahunty believes the girl was submerged in water for about 10 seconds.

'As I understand what happened, she was with her family, she was behind her father, her father wasn't looking at her at the time.

'She has stepped off a step and into deeper water.”

The last near drowning incident at the hot pools was in December 2009.

Tania is confident the correct safety procedures were in place at the facility this time around.

She says the child was swimming in the large ‘active pool' and her father should have maintained a constant vigil.

'This does highlight the importance of parents watching their children.

'We're not saying it's anyone's fault. It's easy to happen. He had more than one child with him.”

Mount Maunganui Hot Salt Water Pools attracts about 215,000 people every year.

'Last Tuesday being a cold day we had 1800 people in the pool in one day.

'So if we're just talking about two in 12 months, that's probably pretty good,” says Tania.