Children learning to swim. Photo: Pexels
A trend in temporary, above-ground pools could take our water safety regulations back to the 1980s, warns an expert.
It used to be known as the "New Zealand disease".
We've made huge progress in the last 75 years, but drownings still happen far too often, and now the waterside behaviour of parents is in the spotlight after eight young children drowned during one summer.
A recent coroner's report has highlighted the need for close supervision when children are near water, after the eight children, aged from nine months to five years, died in private paddling pools, above ground pools, a public pool, a lake, a river and at a beach during the summer of 2021/2022.
Water Safety New Zealand general manger Gavin Walker tells The Detail he fully supports Coroner Michael Robb's recommendations that adults either hold young children or be in close contact when they are in the water, at all times.
And he warned that they need to stop being distracted by online content, domestic tasks or talking to others.
"That's the real tragedy here - these are situations that are avoidable," says Walker. "Safety for kids around water is up to adults, it's up to the rest of us. We are the ones that keep them safe.
"These are our most vulnerable New Zealanders and to lose eight of them in a range of situations to drowning in one summer is a huge loss and massive tragedy."
The coroner also recommended signage in public places be "clear and blunt" about supervision.
He also highlighted that lifeguards are not caregivers and do not always notice a drowning child, because it could happen as quickly as a child slipping under the surface.
"Lifeguards aren't babysitters for your kids - they are there to help out when and if you get into trouble," Walker says.
"But the fundamental responsibility for young kids is for parents to be in the water with them and keeping them safe."
The coroner also recommended new legislation to deal with the ongoing risks with portable and temporary pools at home.
He wants temporary pools of 1.2m or higher to be sold with an appropriate safety gated entry.
Walker tells The Detail that when mandatory fencing legislation was introduced in the 1980s, it transformed water safety, resulting in a huge reduction in the rate of child drownings, which was then called the "New Zealand disease".
"With temporary pools... this is creating the potential to go back to where we were in 1980s when nine kids a year drowned in backyard pools at homes.
"It's unlikely these pools are being fenced. If you buy a pool for a few hundred dollars, what is the likelihood you are spending thousands of dollars on fencing to keep the kids away."
He has called for small portable pools under 1.2m high to be withdrawn from sale.
"Tragically we have already lost five young people in the last decade in portable pools in people's backyards. This wasn't a thing until the last decade or so - because these pools didn't exist.
"We fear this a problem that is only going to grow, and we can see what is going to happen so let's act now before young New Zealanders pay the price."
The deaths:
- A 2-year-old died near a camping site on 8 January 2022, in Northland. The toddler was playing with other children in the water and under general supervision, but at some point, wandered back to the swimming hole without supervision. He was found submerged in a deeper part of the swimming hole.
- A 19-month-old toddler died in Middlemore Hospital in 2022 after he was found floating face down in an above-ground inflatable swimming pool, which did not require a building consent.
- A 9-month-old girl drowned in a paddling pool at her Porirua home in 2022. Her mother was sleeping at the time.
- A 5-year-old boy drowned in January 2022 at a waterhole, near Miniginui. The young boy went missing and was later found fully submerged about a kilometre downriver from the waterhole and campsite
- A 4-year-old was found floating face down in the Kai Iwi Lakes in Northland on 4 January 2022. The boy was unable to swim, and there was limited signage around the drop-off.
- A 5-year-old girl was unsupervised when she drowned at the Waltham Swimming Pool in Christchurch. Her grandparents were looking after her and did not appear to be aware of the requirement that children five or younger needed to be in the water with someone aged over 16 who remained within touching distance of them.
- A 5-year-old boy was swept from his mother's hands on Marine Parade beach in Napier on 10 December 2021.
- A 5-year-old boy was found submerged in the water in a location known as the Maoribank swimming hole on the Hutt River near Ngāti Tama Park on 18 January 2022.
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