(August 1, 2008)  When the heat rises, Oklahomans head to the water to cool off. Whether your family plans a weekend trip to the lake or afternoons at the pool, safety is important.

“The most important safety precaution with young children is constant, attentive adult supervision,” Barnetta Pofahl, American Heart Association Certified CPR Instructor said. “The majority of child drownings occur when children get into the pool on their own. In a recent study, most young children who drowned were last seen inside the home and had been out of sight for less than five minutes. Typically, one or both parents were home.

“Toddlers and children love the water, but don’t understand the dangers of drowning,” Mrs. Pofahl continued. “That’s part of what makes drowning the second leading injury-related cause of death for children aged 1 to 14. If the child is swimming with a friend, has had swimming lessons or is over the age of eight or nine, many parents admit that they don’t always supervise swimming sessions. In addition, many parents engage in activities such as talking with friends, visiting on the phone, reading or eating while watching their child swim.”

In recent surveys, nearly two-thirds of pool owners did not have isolation fencing around their pools or spas. (Restricting access to the pool is important, even for the popular, inflatable-style pools.) One in five parents mistakenly believed that the use of water wings or a float was sufficient to prevent drowning, and many preteens admitted they never wore life jackets when riding on a personal watercraft, participating in water sports or riding in a boat.

Follow these safety tips for safe water fun:

• Never leave children alone in – or near – water. Make a firm rule that there is no swimming without adult supervision.
• Surround pools and spas with a fence at least four feet tall. The fence should have self-closing and self-latching gates, with latches that are out of the reach of young children. The fence should completely separate the pool from the house.
• Consider purchasing such safety devices as an alarm for the door / gate to the pool, a rigid, safety pool cover and/or an underwater motion swimming pool alarm.
• Teach your children not to run, push or jump on others around water.
• Teach children age 4 or older to swim.
• Learn infant and child CPR.
• Inflatable toys, floats and water wings are not safety devices and cannot be relied upon to prevent drowning.
• At lakes and rivers, swim only in designated areas. Never dive into a lake or pond where you can’t see the bottom. Even if the spot was safe last year or last month, water depths fluctuate and underwater obstacles can change, so check on each visit before allowing children to dive or jump in.
• If swimming in the ocean, swim only in designated areas and pay attention to warnings about strong currents or riptides. Always swim parallel to the beach (and close to the beach) instead of heading away from the shore.
• Teach your child not to dive into any above ground pool, or any time water depth is less than five feet. Where diving is appropriate, teach children to dive with their arms outstretched in front of them and to swim immediately toward the surface.
• Limit use of personal water craft to operators age 16 and older. Require all operators / riders to wear a flotation device. (The Personal Watercraft Industry Association recommends wearing a wetsuit, gloves, protective eyewear and footwear. Some people even recommend the use of helmets.)
• Teach children to wear life jackets any time they go out on a boat, water ski or participate in other water sports.
• Chances of catching a disease in a well-maintained pool are slim. But, poorly maintained pools and lakes can be responsible for such problems as the 1998 outbreak of E. coli caused by feces-contaminated water.
• Choose a well-maintained pool.
• Teach your children never to drink pool water.
• Swim diapers can’t prevent all leaks and contamination. Take children to the bathroom before swimming, and often during a day or afternoon of swimming.
• Change diapers in the bathroom rather than poolside.
• Keep any children with diarrhea out of the pool entirely.