The sun breaks through, the open-water swimming season is officially underway, and thousands of people head for the lakes, ponds and beaches. It sounds like harmless summer fun – but anyone who digs into the reality of our water safety knows we're playing with fire.
What unfolds on a summer afternoon at the water's edge is often not a carefree picnic, but a risky situation full of misunderstandings, overconfidence and poor preparation. Not because people mean any harm – but because we fail to give them the right knowledge, skills and warnings.
“The Dutch are good at recreational paddling, but genuinely skilled swimmers in open water? Many are not. Certainly not under unexpected conditions like cold, current or murky water. And those are precisely the conditions in which things go wrong.” – Shiva de Winter, swimming entrepreneur & chair of NSWZ
Open water is not a swimming pool. And we forget that.
Natural water is cold – especially in spring. The temperature can still be treacherously low, which can trigger a cold shock response: uncontrolled breathing, panic, and loss of muscle control. In that state, no A- or B-swimming certificate is going to save you. On top of that, many recreational lakes have no active lifeguard supervision at all – or only limited coverage.
And yet people wade in, often with (false) confidence. Children without direct parental supervision. Teenagers jumping off a little bridge. Groups of friends with a drink in hand.
“There's no room for bravado in open water. No lifeguard who sees everything. No bottom you can touch. No wall to hold on to. When it goes wrong, it can often be fatal.” – Shiva de Winter
Too little preparation, too many assumptions
A common problem: parents who assume their child 'can swim well' because they earned their certificates in the pool. But swimming in natural water demands far more than a bit of breaststroke in a heated basin. Depth, visibility, temperature and unexpected situations make open water far more complex and dangerous.
There's also a growing group of people in the Netherlands – including young people with a foreign background and labour migrants – who didn't grow up with the everyday exposure to water that many take for granted. They are less aware of the risks and are not adequately informed about them. Despite a few good initiatives (such as informative swimming videos from COA), a structural approach is missing.
“Everyone living in the Netherlands should have access to clear, culturally relevant and language-specific information about water safety. Not now and then. Structurally.” – Shiva de Winter
Where's the urgency? Even at the CBS it's lacking.
What makes all this even more painful is that every year we only receive the official drowning figures from the CBS on 25 July – World Drowning Prevention Day. Right in the middle of summer. Far too late, in other words, to shape targeted policy, adjust prevention campaigns or draw lessons from the previous season.
This criticism has been raised repeatedly, but the CBS still refuses to release this data earlier in the year. In doing so, we deny ourselves the chance to learn and respond in time. Why hold back crucial, life-saving insights when you know the risks already peak in May and June?
“Drowning is not a seasonal statistic, it's a recurring societal risk that returns every year. And as long as we keep treating the figures as ‘hindsight information’, we'll keep repeating the same mistakes.” – Shiva de Winter
What really needs to change?
Structural and up-to-date communication about water safety. Not only when the weather turns warm, but all year round. Including practical lessons, experience-based teaching and education for parents.
Early, open data on drownings. The figures need to be available before the season starts. Analysis and action belong together.
Education that looks beyond the swimming pool. Every child should learn what swimming in natural water really involves – including the risks and how to behave.
Targeted information for at-risk groups. In multiple languages, in schools, at asylum seeker centres, through employers, via influencers – tailored to culture, experience and context.
Water safety must not be an afterthought
Let this be a call to policymakers, parents, teachers, sports clubs and the CBS alike: take the reality of open water seriously. Make sure people know what they're doing – before things go wrong. And give professionals and organisations the room, the resources and the information to do this properly.
Because every life lost that we could have prevented is one too many.