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Numerous recommendations outlined in state’s newly unveiled water safety plan
The Hawaii Water Safety Coalition celebrates the release of the 2025 Hawaii Water Safety Plan.
The Hawaii Water Safety Coalition celebrates the release of the 2025 Hawaii Water Safety Plan.
By Dillon Ancheta, Hawaii News Now
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A plan to expand water safety programs was presented at the state capitol Thursday. It was titled ‘I palekana kakou ma ka wai’, or ‘Let us be safe in the water.’
It presents a number of suggestions for the state and counties to address the issue of water safety.
The plan was spearheaded by the Hawaii Water Safety Coalition.
“We need to safeguard the public and this water safety is an element that we really really need to pay attention to and see come to fruition,” State Sen. Glenn Wakai said.
A driving force behind the plan was Allison Schaefers.
She lost her 5-year-old daughter Charlotte who drowned in 2004 while trying to save her friend stuck in a hidden hazard detention pond near a playground at the Pearl City Navy Housing complex.
“She was an amazing positive, joyful, exuberant spirit. She gave her life for her friend. Not many people will do that. They were much older children on the banks that day, none of them jumped in to save this struggling child,” Schaefers said.
Schaefers, and other grieving parents, hope the plan will save lives, and prevent another tragedy.
“In addition to this being a call to action, it’s also a love letter. And it’s a love letter to those we’ve lost, and also to our community because we don’t want anybody else to go through this,” coalition founding member Jessamy Town Hornor said.
Data showed drowning was the leading cause of juvenile deaths in Hawaii between 2019 and 2023. The plan makes a number of suggestions to the state, to increase water safety awareness and bring back swim lessons through DOE curriculum.
It also encourages the state to keep up with inspections and signage of potential hazards around storm drains, detention ponds and more.
If Hawaii adopts international pool and spa safety codes, the plan says the state could be eligible for hundreds of thousands of dollars through a special grant.
Other recommendations also focus on lifeguards, and expanding their services, resources, and wages and benefits.
”We’re supportive of programs and initiatives that provide swim lessons, education on water, safety, and ocean knowledge, whether be through private organizations or public schooling. The more keiki know the better prepared they are when they go to the beaches,” Honolulu Ocean Safety Department Director Kurt Lager said.
