As summer rolls into its peak, and as the weather increases and temperatures get hotter, people need to keep cool! Public pools, lakes, and even rivers become a popular location for friends and family to gather and enjoy some refreshing, relaxing, and exciting activities. But as we all know, any body of water poses a risk to the safety of yourself and others. Pools can become crowded leaving supervision and organization in disarray. Where the real safety considerations must be taken into place is while using local lakes and rivers. Sweeping currents and undetermined depths pose many dangers and risks to unsuspecting users. Today we are going to discuss different safety considerations when using rivers and lakes as well as some common mistakes people have made in the past.

First off, keep alcohol consumption to a controllable level. We all enjoy having a few drinks when the weather is nice but too much is extra dangerous when on a waterway. Drinking can reduce coordination as well as weaken your stamina, making it harder to swim or remove yourself from the water. Ensuring your judgment does not become impaired can greatly increase safety when relaxing on the water and will also enable you to rescue or assist others if the situation arises.

Do not tie rafts together! Rafts tied together may seem like a good way to keep together, but tied rafts pose many safety concerns. Rocks, trees, bridges and other obstacles exposed in the body of water can come between two rafts creating major entanglement and entrapment concerns. Also, when a raft flips over, most are designed to auto correct with the buoyancy, but when tied to another raft this function can be disabled and can even cause the other raft to capsize as well.

Wearing a personal floatation device is imperative. Most people are under the belief that they are strong swimmers and can handle the current. This fact may very well be correct, but where trouble lies is when a person hits an obstruction and is rendered unconscious and unable to swim. Life jackets save lives and can be purchased to custom fit you for the best comfort possible.

Be smart on rivers, take them seriously. Fast water and obstacles are very unpredictable and very dangerous. People must work together to not only create a safer work environment, but a safer social environment. So spread the word and make our rivers a safer place!