Watch Around Water

12 October 2015

Recreation SA welcomes our newest member, Wattle Range Council, as an accredited Watch Around Water site. The drowning prevention program will be rolled out at the council's Penola Swimming Pool, Nangwarry Swimming Pool and Millicent Swimming Lake.

Wattle Range joins 40 other public pools across SA to implement the lifesaving program.

Watch Around Water is an industry driven initiative developed to address concern regarding the supervision of children by parents/ guardians in public aquatic centres.

The primary aim of the program is to develop a level of consistency in the aquatic industry as well as educate and raise the awareness of what is involved when adequately supervising children at a public aquatic facility.

The program is run by Recreation SA in South Australia and is an initiative developed by the Leisure Institute of WA (LIWA).

Since 2006, South Australian public swimming pools have embraced Watch Around Water at their facilities.

The program, which promotes shared responsibility between parents and pool lifeguards with its key messages of "under 5 - in arms reach" and "under 10 - in eyesight", is making a significant difference to safety outcomes at the pools where it has been adopted.

Watch Around Water has reduced the number of drowning deaths, near-drowning incidents and injuries at pools.

As the weather heats up and we begin our annual migration to the water, Recreation SA reminds all parents and adults to Watch around Water.

Under 5 - always keep them in arm's reach. Under 10 - always keep them in sight.

Let's get the message out at all aquatic locations.

To enquire about Watch Around Water, contact Recreation SA on 08 8271 6874.