Safety tips and risks to remember when heading into NJ waters

⚫July sees the most drownings

⚫CDC says half of U.S. adults don't know how to swim

⚫American Red Cross focuses on water safety for oceans, rivers, lakes and reservoirs

NEW JERSEY — You can find almost all waterbodies in New Jersey: rivers, lakes, the ocean and restricted waters like reservoirs. Though there's a lot of pros that come with the easy access, water enthusiasts also have more potential risks to account for.

Regardless of the waterway, drownings are all too common this time of year. Just over the weekend, for example, authorities recovered the body of a man who drowned in the Delaware River.

Year after year, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds July to be the month with the most unintentional fatal drownings. For the agency's month-by-month breakdown, click here.

The CDC also recently concluded drowning deaths are climbing nationwide. From 2020 to 2022, the agency said the U.S. witnessed over 4,500 fatal incidents a year. Adding to the unsettling data, it determined over half of U.S. adults haven't had any formal swimming instruction.

Both the CDC and American Red Cross New Jersey Region's Diane Concannon stress no one should overlook basic swimming instruction and water education.

As we enter the month of July, below is some advice and risks Concannon says could be the difference between life and death.

More information from the American Red Cross can be found here.

Ocean

• Concannon says remember the saying "swim as a pair near the lifeguard's chair"
• Designate someone as the water watcher (rotate while kids are in the water)
• Research the conditions or ask a lifeguard
• Stay away from water for 30 minutes after last thunderclap
• Leave rescuing to the experts "reach or throw don't go"
• Know if conditions exist for potential riptides
• Swim parallel to shore if caught in riptide

Lake

• Look up how deep the water could be
• Enter the water feet first
• Find out what conditions are present
• Know what you're getting into before you jump in
• Stay away from water for 30 minutes after last thunderclap
• Can take 20 to 60 seconds for someone drowning to submerge
• Need supervised access to the water
• Leave rescuing to the experts "reach or throw don't go"
• Diving is not encouraged unless signs say otherwise (at least 9 feet deep)

River

• Enter the water feet first
• Know what you're getting into before you jump in
• Find out what conditions are present
• Stay away from water for 30 minutes after last thunderclap
• Can take 20 to 60 seconds for someone drowning to submerge
• Need supervised access to the water
• Leave rescuing to the experts "reach or throw don't go
• Don't enter water from a bridge

Reservoir

• Reservoir should never be on the list
• Concannon says warning signs are often present
• "Don't take the chance," says Concannon
• Known for being unsupervised waters
• Leave rescuing to the experts "reach or throw don't go"

Just last weekend someone drowned in a New Jersey reservoir in Cranberry. Then days later on June 25, a teen disappeared in a reservoir in West Milford.

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