With summer approaching its important that parents of young children under the age of 10 remain vigilant around water.

Watch Around Water is a campaign educating the public about what adequate supervison is, and encouraging parents/guardians to take on the responsibility for adequetly supervising their children while visiting public aquatic facilities. The program designed to increase parents awareness of the risks to their children when around water and help to reduce near drowning events in children under 10.

The program is being introduced by Whitehorse Council at its Aqualink facilities and since 2008 has been jointly run by Life Saving Victoria and Aquatics and Recreation Victoria.

Watch Around Water is an extension of Council’s Active Supervision Policy that has been in place since the early 2000's. The policy requires parents to watch their children at all times while near water and be prepared to jump in and rescue them if required. The policy also requires children under the age of 10 to be actively supervised by an adult aged 16 years or older.

Some parents assume it is the role of the lifeguards to be directly responsible for every person in the swimming pool, which is an unrealistic expectation. This becomes even more unrealistic as the weather heats up and more people attend the pool.

In the coming months, Council’s leisure facilities, Aqualink Box Hill and Aqualink Nunawading will begin to educate patrons about the Watch Around Water program with the program being introduced on 1st December. Differences you’ll notice will be increased reminder signage throughout the centre and staff approaching many more parents about looking after their children.

The key points of the Watch Around Water program are:

• Children under 5 MUST be constantly supervised and remain within arm’s reach at all times
• Children under 10 MUST be accompanied into the facility and constantly supervised by a parent/gaurdian
• Unsupervised children will be removed from the water if a Lifeguard is concerned for their safety
• Parents must never turn their back on their children