As temperatures rise and more people head to lakes and beaches, water safety advocates are urging families to take precautions before entering the water.
According to Seattle Children’s Hospital, an average of 17 children and teens die from drowning in Washington state each year. State health officials say King County recorded 25 preventable drowning deaths last year.
This summer has already seen several water emergencies and tragedies, including the drowning of a 15-year-old girl at Lake Sammamish in June.
One local teenager is working to change those statistics.
Mudra Machewad, 16, founded LakeSafe, a youth-led nonprofit dedicated to preventing open-water drownings. The idea came after two drownings at Lake Sammamish State Park last August.
“A couple of weeks before [the incident], my family and neighbors also went to the same location, and a really similar incident happened where their boat also flipped in the water,” Machewad said. “After these two incidents, I realized that this is not just a coincidence, but lots of drownings happen in Washington State.”
Machewad says water safety education is often overlooked.
“In schools, so much about fire, what to do when there’s a fire, or what to do when there are shootings is taught, but nothing about water safety,” Machewad said.
In less than a year, LakeSafe has grown to include more than 20 partners, including emergency responders and hospitals. The organization hosts educational events, installs safety signs in multiple languages, operates life jacket loaner stations, and helps connect agencies working on water safety efforts.
Machewad says the initiative has already reached thousands of families.
“We have reached around 5,000 families since the start of this initiative through events and confluences,” she said.
A major focus of the group’s outreach is teaching what Machewad calls three key water safety rules: “Know it, Wear it, Watch it.”
“Know it means knowing the water conditions before you actually enter the water,” Machewad explained. “Wear it means always make sure you wear the life jacket, and Watch it means watching somebody and making sure you’re not on your phone.”
The goal, she says, is simple: educate families and save lives.
“It’s just so important to put on the life jacket. And that’s the main lesson,” Machewad said. “For LakeSafe, it’s that please make sure you advocate water safety, make sure you’re making informed decisions.”
For more information about the Lakesafe initiative, click here.