Drowning is the leading cause of death among young children nationally and in Massachusetts, according to the state Department of Public Health. That is a tragic statistic that can be significantly reduced in the same way drunk driving deaths have been reduced. 

Emergency responders rush to residential swimming pools where a child has drowned or converge on a pond or lake and attempt to revive a drowning victim who never learned to swim or did not take into consideration water depths, currents, underwater debris or water temperature before attempting to swim. 

But the starting point for avoiding drownings is familiarizing nonswimmers with the water and teaching them, step by step, stroke by stroke, how to overcome fear and learn to swim. Swimming pools are in plentiful supply across Lynn and nearby communities and local YMCAs, among other organizations, have admirably stepped up to provide swimming lessons and to reach out to families to offer lessons.

So why is drowning such a tragic statistic among young people — not just children but also teens and young adults like Uwaldo Erazo, who drowned July 4, 2018 in Silver Lake? For all the sun and fun they bring during care-free warm weather months, drownings occur too often in June and July. 

Firefighters and other first responders, as well as lifeguards assigned to public swimming areas, protect swimmers by practicing water rescue exercises like the ones conducted a week ago at Breakheart Reservation’s Pearce Lake. 

Swimming is prohibited in most of Pearce Lake and all of Silver Lake but the prohibition did not prevent Erazo from drowning there a year ago. There are plenty of warning signs around public bodies of water, at least in Lynn and Saugus, and firefighters mount an annual spring effort to make people aware of drowning dangers.

But more comprehensive steps can be taken to reduce water deaths. We need proactive efforts to teach people of all ages to swim. Outreach initiatives in the form of paper mail, email and text alerts repeatedly reminding people about swimming dangers can be sent and resent. It can’t hurt to remind residential property owners about the simple precautions required to prevent a child death in a swimming pool. 

Administering a swim test to everyone who ventures near a body of water is impossible. But the same mass education effort that turned driving drunk and smoking into a serious offense and a stigma, respectively, can be applied in a positive and proactive manner to reduce the number of swimming deaths.