As the weather gets warmer, and with at least three tragic drownings already on record in Ontario this month, the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada is reminding everyone to be water wise.
Public Education Director Barbara Byers says although Hollywood movies make drowning seem loud and dramatic with waving arms and shouting, it is actually silent.
"When a person is drowning they can't speak because drowning is quite simply an impairment of your respiratory abilities. So water goes down your airways, you can't talk and you can't breathe. You can't shout, 'Help! I'm drowning!'"
She encourages parents to assign one responsible, attentive adult per child while kids are swimming to ensure swimmers are closely watched at all times.
"A child or another adult could just slip under the water or get into the drop-off area of the pool and no one would notice. You'd have to be intently watching to say, 'Hey, that child is drowning. I'm going to whisk them out right away.'"
It comes as this month alone an 8 year old boy's body was discovered just off the shore of Lake Erie, a six year old girl drowned in a backyard pool at an Oshawa home during a party, and a 33 year old man died near Drayton this past Sunday after jumping into the water to save a child who fell in.
The child in the last case survived as witnesses pulled them to safety, but the adult did not resurface.
Click here to listen to Byers full interview with Tom McConnell.