If you plan to beat the heat today by spending some time in the backyard pool, Lifesaving Society Manitoba is urging you not to leave your children unattended.

Dr. Christoper Love is Water Smart Coordinator for Lifesaving Society Manitoba. He says in this province, 95 per cent of child drownings are the result of absent or distracted supervision. Across Canada, that percentage is even higher.

"That's a very easy one to rectify," he notes.

Dr. Love says do not allow yourself to be distracted. If you are the "water watcher", he says you should put your phone down and not divide your attention by doing cooking or cleaning at the same time.

"Your sole responsibility becomes focusing on the children in the pool," he stresses.

And, if the child is six years of age or younger, the adult needs to be within arms reach, to ensure they can grab the child if something happens.

This is National Drowning Prevention Week. Dr. Love says this year their focus is on backyard pool safety. And though backyard pool drownings are statistically insignificant in Manitoba, Dr. Love says nationally between 9 and 10 per cent of drownings every year happen in backyard pools.

"We want to be proactive rather than reactive," he says.

Dr. Love says they are stressing this because backyard pools are becoming more common in this province.

Not all municipalities share the same bylaw concerning requirements for backyard pools, but Dr. Love says Lifesaving Society Manitoba has its own set of recommendations. It suggests the following:

  • having a four-sided pool fence that does not attach to the house or any other building,

  • having a pool fence with a self-closing and self-locking gate that is designed so that children cannot access it from outside,

  • having a pool fence that is at least 1.5 metres in height, with gates at least 1.4 metres in height.

Meanwhile, according to their most recent information, the demographic with the highest percentage of drownings is seniors aged 65 and older. This is followed closely by toddlers aged zero to four.

"We want everybody to have a safe, round trip every time they go out on the water," says Dr. Love. "Doing a little bit of pre-planning and preparation can go a long way to preventing a tragedy."