Around Lake Lanier, many people spend their summers lounging by the water or taking a breezy ride on a boat to cool down, though many don't know how to swim.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional, injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14.

"There is an alarming amount of kids that don't know how to swim," said Julie Butler, marketing and communications coordinator for Gainesville Parks and Recreation.

Butler said part of the mission of the Frances Meadows Aquatic and Community Center is to teach Hall County residents the critical skills they need to stay afloat.

A major tool is a $3,000 grant from USA Swimming Foundation's Make A Splash initiative that provides swimming lessons for sixth-graders at Gainesville Middle School.

Butler said during last year's classes with the middle school, instructors found that 85 to 90 percent of the students did not know how to float.

"It's much more than I would imagine it would be," Butler said. "I hope we can reach out and teach even more Gainesville City Schools children."

Frances Meadows also provides affordable swim lessons for children and adults.

"People have a huge access to the water," Butler said.

"If you fall in the water, you've got to have the
skills to get out."

Earlier this month, six teenagers drowned in Shreveport, La., during a family barbecue by a river.

Though the water looked shallow, one of the teens suddenly stepped off into water that was 20 to 30 feet deep and began to drown. His friends jumped in and tried to save him, though they too drowned in the process. No one else at the gathering - including the adults - could swim, and they were forced to watch helplessly.

Jennifer Brownlee of Gainesville said reading that tragic story in the news motivated her to begin swimming lessons for her 1-year-old son, Jeremy.

"Me and my son go feed the ducks (at the lake) all the time," Brownlee said. "The thought of him falling in and not knowing how to swim, that really freaked me out."

Brownlee said it was especially important to her that Jeremy learn to swim because she is not a strong swimmer.

"I can swim, but I don't know for how long," Brownlee said. "If something happened to my son as far as diving in and looking for him underwater, I'm not that strong.

"I want to at least let him have a chance of getting back to the surface."

Natural bodies of water like Lake Lanier can be especially dangerous for nonswimmers because the depth of the water can change dramatically within a few steps of the shore.

According to the CDC, most drownings among those 15 years or older occur in natural water settings.

"We do live in an area where we have 600 miles of shoreline of Lake Lanier. This area is at even greater risk of drowning because of the access to water that we have," Butler said.

Hall County Fire and EMS Chief David Kimbrell said there usually are a few drownings each year on the lake.

"So many people will see a sandbar or something and try to walk out to an island. You step off of that 2 feet in either direction and you're back into water over their head," Kimbrell said. "That's why some of the South Hall parks seem like they are a large number of our drownings because there are a lot of those type areas out there."
Kimbrell said many people do not realize the danger of being near water if they can't swim.

"As you get older, a lot of people don't want to admit that they can't swim. So sometimes they'll get out and get in trouble before they realize it," Kimbrell said.

Alcohol also presents a big problem. Even those with basic swimming skills can become impaired if they get into deep water.

"Alcohol and water don't mix because people get intoxicated and can't do anything to save themselves when they get into trouble," Kimbrell said.

There are a number of reasons that people do not learn to swim.

Studies show that blacks and Latinos are statistically more likely to be nonswimmers.

According to a 2008 study by the USA Swimming Foundation, nearly 6 out of 10 black and Latino children are unable to swim, almost twice the number of white children.

The study found that the key indicator was not race but family. Children from nonswimming households are eight times more likely to be at risk of drowning.

Butler said the top reason people never learn to swim is fear.

"People don't know how to swim because they're afraid of swimming. It's a Catch-22," Butler said.