Another summer long weekend is upon us and the head lifeguard at the Grunthal public swimming pool is reminding people to stay safe around the water. Marissa Bourgeois says there are some very important basics to water safety.

Marissa Bourgeois

"One of the big things is always making sure you are swimming with a buddy. Even if you're older, it's important to make sure you're with someone in case something does happen. Then there is someone to go get help, if you need it. Also, here at our pool, we have a rule that, if your children are under age seven, you need to be within arm's reach and not letting them swim around by themselves so there is always someone watching them."

Chris Love of the Lifesaving Society, Manitoba Branch, agrees.

"Probably the top thing that we would want every family to remember is that, parents, if you have children, you need to be supervising them. If they're smaller children, they might be weak swimmers, they might be non-swimmers, you need to be within arm's reach. You should be able to grab them at any time when they are in the water or even if they are near the water. If you have older children and they've done swimming lessons, they know how to swim, you still need to be watching them because they can still get into trouble."

Bourgeois also has some advice on what to do if you see a swimmer in trouble.

"If they see someone at our pool, the advice is not to go into the water to help them but rather to throw something to them that floats and then to get a lifeguard or someone who is certified to help out."

Love expands on that.

Chris Love"For people who have not taken any lifesaving training, our recommendation is to keep your safety in mind. We don't want to end up with a circumstance where we have more than one victim. So, if you have the chance, stay on shore, try and talk to the person if you can, find something that floats, it could be a life jacket, it could be a pool noodle, toss it out to them and get them to grab onto it. They are now able to stay on the surface of the water, they're able to breathe and that gives some time then to figure out how to get them back in."

Love says it has been another tragic year when it comes to the number of drownings.

"We seem to be, at this point, approximately around the average, which unfortunately is around 22-23 deaths per year in the province."