The Helderberg and Winelands are peppered with dams, and teaching water safety is essential.

With the upcoming school holidays, children will enjoy leisure time, much of this time will be spent swimming - and with the Boland known for it’s rivers and dams, making water safety a priority this festive season is key to safeguarding children.

Ward councillor Ruth Arnolds for Ward 7, in the Wellington area, appeals to parents and care givers of young children to exercise vigilance and extreme caution this coming holiday season by ensuring children, especially young children are supervised at all times when close to water.

“As ward councillor I want to make an appeal to all parents to during this festive season make sure that we keep our children safe, it’s a busy season with hot weather and I ask that parents don’t allow their children to go to swimming pools, rivers or dams without adult supervision as this is very dangerous.

“As parents we have a responsibility toward our children, especially the young children who often do daring things without thinking it through like adults, so let’s keep this in mind when thinking about the safety of our children.”

The Drakenstein Municipality has a number of public swimming pools open for leisure swimming.

According to Eda Barnard, Acting Executive Director: Community Services, Drakenstein Municipality, all seven swimming pool facilities resorting under Drakenstein Municipality have safety regulations in place for the swimming season.

“These include lifeguards who are trained by the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) to ensure they are fit and equipped to handle any potential life-threatening situation. Altogether 55 lifeguards were appointed for this swimming season, and they received formal accreditation. All the lifeguards are also trained in First Aid Level 1,” says Ms Barnard.

Additionally, says Ms Barnard the municipality has capacity limits at their public swimming pool facilities and once this capacity is reached, access are closed to visitors. She further says the number of visitors allowed is dependant on the number of lifeguards on duty at the time.

“Our swimming pool rules are displayed at all our swimming pools, clearly stipulating the do’s and don’ts. Safety and precautionary announcements are made throughout the day to keep visitors informed about the possible dangers around swimming pools.”

The municipality warns that no underage children will be allowed to access the swimming pools without adult supervision. Persons under the influence of alcohol or any prohibited drugs will also be prohibited from entering the swimming pool facilities.

The municipality warns residents and visitors to the district to not swim in rivers and dams to their unpredictable depth and flow.

Camping close to river banks and dams will require extra supervision of children close to these water bodies.Other water safety tips offered by the South African Police Service on their website include to always supervise children near water, not to ever allow children to dive into shallow water, to stay clear from swimming in river mouths, to avoid swimming in water bodies like rivers and dams at night, to only dive into water where you can see what’s below the surface and to not swim after eating a heavy meal.

Furthermore parents are warned to never leave another child responsible for another child near water, not even for five minutes, as drowning can happen in seconds.

Children must be taught to always ask for permission to go near water and swimming aids, like pool noodles or water wings, should never be used in the place of approved floating devices.