Officials across the region are stressing the importance of safety this summer when you head out on the water — wjether it’s a river or a lake, or if it’s a backyard swimming pool.

Brittany Orr, recreation coordinator for the City of Yankton, said there are a number of safety precautions families should take when they go swimming with their kids, either at a home pool or a city pool.

“I would tell parents that do have a home in-ground pool to have a gate or fence around it in order to prevent neighbors or anyone else from being able to get in there,” she said. “If it’s an above-ground pool with a ladder that goes into it, parents should remove the ladder so their kids can’t get into it at any time.”

Orr said most issues that take place at city pools, including Memorial Pool and the Summit Activities Center (SAC) pool, come from supervision.

“If you bring kids to a pool, especially those who are 5 or 6 years old and younger, our lifeguards aren’t supervisors,” she said. “Lifeguards are there to help, but they do not overtake parental or guardian supervision. We recommend young kids have someone 15 years old or older to supervise them while they’re at the pool.”

She added that parents or guardians watching kids should be actively supervising them.

“This means that parents and guardians should be standing at the edge of the pool, in the water or at the side of the pool,” Orr said. “This allows them to pay a lot more attention rather than if they’re laying on the pool deck.”

Another issue that officials at city pools face occurs when kids show up without wearing sunscreen.

“This is a big issue at Memorial Pool. Kids come without sunscreen and are left there for seven hours,” Orr said. “We’re able to provide some with sunscreen from the lost-and-found, but when at least 200 kids are there, we can’t get sunscreen for everyone. This is really bad for kids’ skin and it’s painful, as well.”

Orr said patrons to city pools should not swim if they’re sick.

“If you’re sick, there is a big risk of vomiting in the pool, which spreads bacteria,” she said. “People also need to wash their hands after they use the bathroom and shower before and after they’re in a city pool.”

Orr added that if you go to the lake or river before going to the pool, you should wash your swimsuit because there are bacteria at lakes and rivers that officials do not want to have transported into their pools.

Officials that work at city pools send weekly water samples to the state to test for bacteria and make sure there is no bacteria in the water.

“We also check our water multiple times a day to make sure chemical levels, including chlorine and pH, are where they need to be,” Orr said. “If something breaks in the pool, we’ll try to fix it in a timely manner but will shut down the pool if it becomes a safety issue.”

She added that it is especially important for parents to watch their kids if they go into deeper areas to reduce the risk of drowning.

“Although we have a rope to keep kids from going into a deep area, it’s not a wall and they can still get through,” Orr said. “Parents should keep an eye out to where their kids are, how tall they are and where they can touch (the bottom of) the pool. They need to be knowledgeable of how far their kid can go in the pool. If they can’t touch, parents should just be in the water with them.”

Orr said supervision is also important at home pools.

“Parents should always supervise their children at home and never leave them unattended in the water, even if they are good swimmers,” she said. “There should always be someone outside just to watch kids, not to pick weeds while watching the kids in the pool.”

Orr said parents need to watch their kids in the pool to prevent “huge risks.”

“There are so many circumstances that drowning can come from so someone should always have their eyes on the kids in the pool,” she said. “If no one is supervising kids in the pool, parents are putting their kids at a huge risk for drowning.”

Not all safety issues occur at pools. There are also a number of precautions boaters should take when they head out on the water.

Brandon Gust, law enforcement specialist for the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GF&P) offered several tips for boaters.

“Boaters should always wear a life jacket,” he said. “Seat belts don’t work if you’re not wearing them and neither do life jackets. In addition, boaters should also make sure they have enough life jackets on board for everyone in their vessel.”

Gust said boaters should always have a safe and sober operator as alcohol accounts for around 17 percent of boating fatalities nationwide.

“Another safety tip I would give to boaters is that if their vessel is more than 16 feet in length, they should have a throwable life-saving device on board as well,” he said. “Also, if your vessel has enclosed gas compartments, make sure to have a working fire extinguisher on board.”

Throwable life saving devices include those that are designed to be grasped, not worn. These include ring-type devices and certain types of boat cushions.

Gust recommends that new boaters should take a boating safety course, and the GF&P offers three online courses that can be taken at a boaters leisure. The courses can be accessed at http://gfp.sd.gov/fishing-boating/boating/default.aspx.

“Boaters also need to know all the laws and regulations before they take to the water,” he said. “They can pick up a free boating safety handbook from any state GF&P office to help them out with this.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal