As public and private pools across the state open for the season, state officials are offering some tips to help keep young swimmers safe.
Over 250 children across the US are killed each year as the result of a drowning. David Pluymers with the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services says some simple steps can keep kids safe. The most important is to make sure children are suprevised at all times when around water.
Home pools should be fenced off to limit access to them. Pluymers says a "water watcher" should also be designated during swim time to make sure children are watched at all times. It's estimated that most cases of a child drowning in a pool occurred when the kid was left alone for five minutes or less.
Pluymers says it's also important for parents to know wheat their child's swimming abilities are and not to overestimate their strength as a swimmer.
There are over 3,000 licensed public pools in Wisconsin. Many of them opened over the Memorial Day weekend.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (MP3 :59)
