Ask your friends and family members, “Do you know how to swim?” You will likely find many who say, yes, of course they can swim. You’ll see them contemplate the question, unearthing memories of splashing about in the community pool, or perhaps jumping the breaking waves on some distant shore. There they were, in their bathing suits, enjoying the water and having a great time, so, of course they can swim! However, ask these same folks, “What’s your level of water competency?” and you may be met with a confused stare. While swimming and water competency certainly go hand in hand, there are critical nuances regarding proficiency in the two that can sometimes mean the difference between life and death by drowning. As the American Red Cross recognizes its 100th anniversary of providing swimming safety education, its aquatics leaders are taking on a five-year, 50-city campaign to reduce the drowning rate by 50 percent by teaching 50,000 people what it means to be “water competent.”

In the Shallow End

In preparation for its centennial campaign, the Red Cross partnered with market researchers ORC International to learn more about how Americans view their swimming proficiency. Turns out, many folks believe they’re much better swimmers than they actually are. The survey found that although 80 percent of Americans said they could swim, only 56 percent of the self-described swimmers could perform all five of the basic skills the Red Cross has identified that could prevent drowning. Put another way, more than half the survey respondents are “water incompetent.” Connie Harvey, the director of Aquatics Centennial Initiatives for the Red Cross, said these findings were not particularly surprising to her team. “I don’t think most people understand what it really means to be ‘able to swim’ or to be ‘water competent,’” she says. “Many think that if they are comfortable in the shallow end of the pool or can make it across the width of a pool that they have the basic skills.”

The Red Cross defines water competency as encompassing critical safety skills including: step or jump into the water over your head; return to the surface and float or tread water for one minute; turn around in a full circle and find an exit from the water; swim 25 yards to the exit; and exit from the water. If in a pool, you must be able to exit without using the ladder.

Overall, the survey found 54 percent of Americans either can’t swim or are not able to perform all the water competency skills. On top of that, many discrepancies in water competency were found among race, gender and age, including:

Only 33 percent of African-Americans report that they can perform all five basic swimming skills, compared to 51 percent of whites. The survey showed that 84 percent of whites and 69 percent of African-Americans say they can swim. 

Just four in 10 parents of children ages 4-17 report that their child can perform all five basic swimming skills, yet more than nine in 10 (92 percent) say that their child is likely to participate in water activities this summer.

Men are significantly more likely than women to report that they have all five basic swimming skills — 57 percent for men compared to 36 percent of women.

Tossing a Life Preserver

To mitigate these stark findings, the Red Cross endeavored to identify the 50 cities most in need of their water safety protocols. Each posts high drowning rates according to information culled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In all, the campaign will reach 19 states. This year, the campaign kicked off in 10 cities, with expansion to 50 identified cities planned in the ensuing years. 

There’s an urgency to this campaign, as hundreds of thousands of Americans look forward to the 2015 swimming season but fail to enroll themselves or their children in swimming lessons. According to its survey, the Red Cross found eight out of 10 Americans plan to engage in water-based fun this summer, such as going to the beach, pool, waterpark, boating or fishing. Thirty-two percent of all Americans said they plan to swim at a location without a lifeguard. “This centennial campaign is intended to help provide access to swim lessons at least until water competency and teach water safety to people of all ages who might not otherwise have the opportunity to learn,” Harvey says. 

The need for increased water competency is dire — every day, an average of 10 people die in the U.S. from unintentional drowning. Tragically, 20 percent of them are children aged 14 or younger, according to the CDC. For those individuals who do not know how to swim or who lack comprehensive water competency, the Red Cross offers swimming lessons for both adults and children. The free Red Cross Swim App, available for iPhone and Android, lets parents track their child’s progress as she makes her way through the water competency curriculum. Learn how you or someone you love can become one of the 50,000 new, fully competent swimmers.

Samantha Bartram is the Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation Magazine.