2024 California Water Safety Summit

2024 Summit Recap

Over 140 of California’s drowning prevention leaders gathered in the City of Fontana in San Bernardino County on April 16th and 17th for the fourth California Water Safety Summit. The annual event aims to gather decision-makers to discuss, share, and plan action towards reducing the burden of drowning in the State and promoting aquatic activity in all its forms. The event was organized by the California Water Safety Coalition and hosted by the City of Fontana, this was the first time The Summit took place in the Inland Empire. The 2024 Summit featured two Keynote speakers, a series of panel discussions on key issues, and strategic workshop sessions aimed at advancing specific action areas of the California Water Safety Strategy.

Mayor Acquanetta Warren opened the summit by welcoming the group to the City of Fontana and presenting a city proclamation for water safety, which highlighted the critical importance of ensuring that all communities, especially those that are underserved, are provided access to swim lessons, and safe waterplay.  “We may not have beautiful beaches, but we have over 3000 water play options in our Region” said the Mayor as she recognized the Coalition for its efforts in bringing the summit to the Inland Empire and its dedication to educating water safety professionals about the vast array of water opportunities in this portion of the state.

Summit attendees had the opportunity to hear from Keynote speaker Brenda Villa, four-time Olympian and San Bernardino Resident, who discussed her trailblazing water polo career and the critical importance of ensuring access to aquatic spaces and swim opportunities for all Californians. A featured panel discussion on drowning prevention context and action in the Inland Empire explored the complexities of the host region from multiple perspectives with panelists representing parks and recreation, public health, fire and rescue, inland open water lifeguarding and community foundations. Dr. Justin Sempsrott, a globally recognized expert in drowning resuscitation, also joined the event as the second Keynote speaker, discussing the evolution of drowning resuscitation with emphasis on emerging issues that the sector will address in the next decade, including the multifaceted effects of climate change and the emerging recognition of the mental health component of drowning and its prevention.

The Summit also featured a series of wide-ranging panel discussions with 24 different speakers representing all regions of the state and drowning prevention sectors. Topics included the progress and challenges of implementing the California Water Safety Strategy, the role of State government departments in drowning prevention, innovative ways to partner with schools and fund aquatic facilities and programming, the increasing complexities of flooding and water-related emergency preparedness in the state, and the growing trend of apnoeic fitness activities and crucial role of underwater hypoxic blackout education and prevention.

Five breakout workshops were scheduled into the agenda. Attendees advanced important conversations on establishing certification and training standards for ocean lifeguards and forming sustainable partnerships with schools to promote drowning prevention education. Specific working sessions focused on concrete ways to advance access to inclusive aquatic spaces, elevating the public significance of drowning with strategic communications, and the implementation of the California Department of Public Health’s Pilot Drowning Data Program mandated by California Senate Bill 855.

While the Summit largely focused on State-level drowning prevention strategies and activities, one specific session focused on local action. Attendees had the opportunity to learn from representatives of community water safety coalitions from other states, who shared experiences of success and failure and provided recommendations for those motivated to advance collaborative water safety initiatives in their community. Following the panel, participants from throughout the State of CA and leaders from AZ, HI, ID, FL, TX and Mexico broke into groups based on their county/region to discuss how collective action and partnership in their community could advance. 

At the close of the 2024 California Water Safety Summit, we look forward to future collaborative activities at state and local levels before we assemble again in 2025, and highlight the following major takeaways from our time together in Fontana:

1. Multisectoral collaboration is key – our efforts are better together.

2. Access and inclusion must continue to be central components of drowning prevention initiatives at all levels.

3. Data is critical and efforts to improve collection are improving.

4. Innovative funding opportunities exist - the future financing of drowning prevention efforts including aquatic infrastructure and staffing requires creative and outside the box thinking.

5. In addition to prevention, our agenda must build resilience with enthusiastic promotion of safe aquatic activity.

6. Drowning rescue and prevention work is evolving – we must be prepared for future challenges.  

7. As we collectively work towards advancing key activities in the California Water Safety Strategy, increasing the operational capacity of the Coalition to support and help coordinate efforts is paramount. 

2024 Summit Location: Inland Empire

The California Water Safety Coalition was honored to hose the 2024 Summit in the City of Fontana. San Bernardino and Riverside Counties (The Inland Empire, or “IE”) are home to just over 4.5 million people and the region is predicted to grow twice as fast as the rest of Southern California in the next 25 years. While it doesn’t have a coastline, the Inland Empire is home to a diverse range of inland lakes and reservoirs (Big Bear Lake, Lake Perris, Silverwood Lake, Lake Elsinore, and the California side of Havasu, just to name a few), several river systems including the Santa Ana River and the California side of the Colorado River, and thousands of swimming pools including aquatic facilities, community centers, and residential backyard pools - there are over 40,000 pools in the Palm Springs city limits alone!

While there are some similarities, the context for drowning is different in the IE compared to other parts of the state, and will be the topic of a Featured Panel Discussion at the Summit. Compared to the rest of California’s counties, drowning rates (fatal and non-fatal) of San Bernardino and Riverside County residents are 19% higher [Data from California Department of Public Health]. While the region does have higher rates, it also features some incredible drowning prevention programs and activities that the rest of the state can learn from, including the California’s most advanced and comprehensive county-level drowning data collection system.

2024 Summit Agenda

Day 1 - April 16th

Networking Breakfast - From 7:30 AM
Hosted by the American Red Cross Training Services

Session 1 - 9:00 AM

Keynote presentation: Striving for equity in and out of the water
Brenda Villa - US Olympian; Founder, Brenda Villa Foundation

Featured panel discussion: Drowning prevention in the Inland Empire
Brenda Villa - Founder, Brenda Villa Foundation
Lydie Gutfeld - Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services, City of San Bernardino
Wendy McEuen - Trauma Outreach and Injury Prevention Coordinator, Riverside Community Hospital Trauma Center
Chad Comeau - Battalion Chief, Rancho Cucamonga Fire Department
Josh Johnson - Sergeant, Inland Empire District, California State Parks

Drowning prevention tour of California - Rapid update presentations
State: Dr. Orion Stewart - California Department of Public Health
San Diego: Angela Wilde - Elemental Aquatics
Orange County: Kelly Soemantoro - OC Health Care Agency
Los Angeles - Coral Kemp - LA County Fire Dpt. - Lifeguard Division
Santa Barbara - Todd Fahlstrom - City of Santa Barbara
Fresno - Dr. Mark Simonian - Water Safety Council of Fresno County
Bay Area - Pete DeQuincy - East Bay Regional Parks District
Mendocino / North Coast - Joe Stoffers - California State Parks

Morning Coffee Break - 10:30 AM

Session 2 - 11:00 AM

California Water Safety Strategy progress and updates
Mary Ann Downing - Public Significance Working Group / Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego
Pete DeQuincy - Lifeguards Working Group / East Bay Regional Parks District
Leslie Schwene - Emergency Preparedness Working Group / Huntington Beach FD
Samantha Dieterman - Safety at All Ages Working Group / Hoag Hospital / Huntington Beach FD

Panel discussion: the role of state government in California drowning prevention
Dr. Renay Bradley - Chief, Epidemiology, Surveillance, & Evaluation Section, CA Dept of Public Health
Brian Ketterer - Coastal Field Division Chief, CA State Parks

Panel discussion and forum: Future directions for the California Water Safety Coalition
California Water Safety Coalition Board of Directors

Lunch - 12:30 PM

Session 3 - 1:30 PM

Afternoon Coffee Break - 3:00 PM

Session 4 - 3:30 PM

Ensuring every child learns to swim
Jimmy Francis - Executive Director, Rose Bowl Aquatics Center
Ana Maria Apodaca - Director of Health Programs, Pasadena Unified School District
Tim Pagano - Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation, City of Santa Ana

Flood and disaster preparedness in California - A critical drowning prevention priority
John Sandmeyer - City of San Diego & Prevent Drowning Foundation
Leslie Schwene - Huntington Beach Fire Dept - Lifeguards
Alex Tardy - NOAA/National Weather Service

Networking Social - 5:00 PM

Hosted by the Ben Carlson Memorial and Scholarship Foundation.

Day 2 - April 17th

Networking Breakfast - 8:30 AM

Hosted by the American Red Cross Training Services

Session 5 - 9:00 AM

Keynote presentation: Navigating the waves of progress - The evolution of drowning treatment
Justin Sempsrott, MD, FAAEM - Executive Director, Lifeguards Without Borders; Associate Director, Idaho Drowning Prevention Coalition

Panel discussion: Underwater hypoxic blackout
Justin Sempsrott, MD, FAAEM - Executive Director, Lifeguards Without Borders; Associate Director, Idaho Drowning Prevention Coalition
Britt Jackson - Executive Director, Underwater Hypoxic Blackout Foundation
Morgan Hoesterey - Founder, WaterLogged Adventures
Don Tran - Co-Founder & COO, Deep End Fitness

Morning Coffee Break - 10:30 AM

Session 6 - 11:00 AM

Panel discussion: Mobilizing for local action
Megan Ferraro - CA Water Safety Coalition / The ZAC Foundation
Alissa Magrum - Central Texas Drowning Prevention Action Team
Dr. Miriam Lynch - Executive Director, Diversity in Aquatics

County / Region Workshop
This interactive session aims to motivate local action for drowning prevention. Attendees participate in structured discussion with others from their County/Region to share knowledge and explore ways to advance local collaboration.

Lunch - 12:30

Day 2 Afternoon Workshops

Public Significance Workshop

The first workshop will focus on communication strategies and public education plans for drowning prevention in your context. Additional details will be posted here as they become available, but participants should expect to come away from the workshop with a summer communications strategy specific to their drowning prevention work, whatever the region or context might be.

Data Workshop - Hosted by the California Department of Public Halth

This workshop will be a focused session on advancing drowning surveillance, data and research priorities in California, and serve as the kick off meeting for the California Department of Public Health’s SB 855 Drowning Data Pilot program.

2024 Summit Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Table Sponsors

Lifesaver Sponsors

Look who attended the 2024 Summit!

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