Bring your full attention to swimmers at the pool or beach

This year, as you prepare to enjoy the pool or the beach, take care to remember that drowning is possible for anyone, and it is often unrecognized.

No one should ever swim alone, even if they can swim well. The World Congress on Drowning states that an estimated 66 percent of the more than 360,000 people who drown worldwide each year knew how to swim.

Often people who can swim overestimate their ability. They overestimate how far or long they can swim before they become exhausted. They might not know how to swim out of a current or undertow. They can be hit by a wave or another swimmer, then panic.

Pre-teen children can dramatically overestimate how well they can swim and should never be left to swim in a pool without an adult inside the pool, even in shallow water.

Everyone knows that children should not swim alone. That includes small plastic wading pools, in which children have drowned, though the water level was not more than three inches. Children can drown in any depth of water, even if the water is not above their heads. Never instruct a babysitter to watch a child in a pool. Children should always be supervised by parents.

Remember, children, playing in the water make noise. If there is no noise, there is trouble.