About the U.S. National Water Safety Action Plan
Our Vision: A United States where everyone is safe in, on, and around water.
Our Call to Action: Water safety professionals, policymakers, manufacturers, and private citizens need to come together to develop and implement data- and evidence-informed action plans — so we can address inequities and prevent drowning.
What is the National Action Plan?
The U.S. National Water Safety Action Plan is a national roadmap for collective action to reduce drowning. It provides a framework and tools to support the development and implementation of data- and evidence-informed, context-specific water safety action plans in communities, counties, and states across the country. It also lays out national actions that support implementation and increase the likelihood that those state, county, and community plans will succeed.
The National Action Plan includes 98 evidence-informed action recommendations that are grouped under 6 key areas of action.
Explore the 6 key areas of action
In addition, every action recommendation aligns with at least 1 level on the spectrum of prevention — a systematic tool that promotes a range of activities from individual and community-level education, to influencing policy and legislation, to changing organizational practices.
Who can use the National Action Plan?
The National Action Plan can guide the efforts of aquatics professionals, public health and safety professionals, policymakers, researchers, advocates, families, manufacturers, and other partners and collaborators in the water safety community who want to take action to prevent drowning.
Taking action at the local level
To reduce drowning across the United States, local context is key. Professionals at the state, county, or community level can use the recommendations and resources in the National Action Plan to create data- and evidence-informed context-specific water safety action plans that address local needs.
Taking action at the national level
The National Action Plan includes 40 national implications — these are actions at a national level that support uptake and implementation of recommendations at the state, county, and community levels. They include actions such as developing national minimum standards, advocacy toolkits with model laws, and national-level guidance. Developing these tools and resources and encouraging their adoption or use will help address existing inequities between and within states, counties, and communities.
Who developed the National Action Plan?
Experts in water safety and drowning prevention collaborated to develop the National Action Plan:
- The Steering Committee for the National Water Safety Action Plan provided strategic oversight and guidance and supported the activities of the working groups
- Working groups made up of experts in the field drafted the National Action Plan
- Subject matter expert reviewers weighed in on proposed strategies
- Organizations and individuals at the national, state, county, and community levels completed surveys to help narrow down the action recommendations included in the National Action Plan.
- A Blue Ribbon Panel made up of subject matter experts from across the field informed the action recommendations, guidance, and tools
For a full list of collaborators and partners, please see the “Acknowledgements” section of the National Action Plan.
National Drowning Prevention Research Agenda
The development of a National Drowning Prevention Research Agenda is underway. The Research Agenda will provide direction for addressing the evidence gaps identified by the working groups for each of the 6 key areas of focus. It will outline key evidence gaps, as well as research questions to address those gaps. Partners and collaborators can use the Research Agenda to advocate for research funding — and encourage researchers from multiple disciplines to undertake applied research in drowning prevention.
Values that guided the National Action Plan’s development
The National Action Plan is built on 4 central values:
- Evidence-informed action and evaluation. Evidence-informed action and evaluation help make sure that the limited resources available are put to the best use and that strategies work to reduce drowning. The National Action Plan was created by experts in drowning prevention and informed by water safety supporters from across the country. All action recommendations are backed by research or — where research wasn’t available — expert opinion.
- Equity and inclusion. Water may be present in all our lives, but the data clearly identifies groups that are at greater risk of drowning. The intersection of factors like race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, and geographic location causes some groups to receive fewer and lower-quality preventive interventions, have fewer opportunities to learn about public health and safety delivery systems, face a shortage of readily available educators, and lack access to infrastructure and quality systems of care in the event of a drowning. If policies and programs are not planned and implemented with an equity lens, system changes won’t address existing inequities and drowning rates will not fall for all groups.
- Collaboration with and engagement of the water safety community. Collective action requires engaging those who hold a part of the solution. Hundreds of experts across the country were involved in the development of the National Action Plan, and many more followed its development through newsletters and social media. It will take all of us to translate the National Action Plan into tangible steps to move the country toward a culture of water safety.
- Local context as a driver of action. The heterogeneity of waterscapes within the United States means that actions that make sense in one part of the country might not make sense in another. That’s why the National Action Plan provides a framework and resources to support the development and implementation of context-specific, local action plans.