How to keep your children safe as Maryland pools open for the summer

BALTIMORE -- As pools open across Maryland, it's important you and your kids stay safe.

"I get a Google alert when a child drowns and it literally breaks my heart because I know that joy has completely disappeared with that family and in most cases it was preventable," Olympic Gold Medalist Rowdy Gaines said.

WJZ spoke with three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Rowdy Gaines who is now a swim safety champion and drowning prevention advocate.

He runs an organization called Step Into Swim, which provides grants to swimming lesson providers who offer the classes to children in underserved communities.

"If a child learns how to swim, takes those formal swimming lessons, it reduces that risk of drowning by 88 percent," Gaines said.

May is National Water Safety Month.

According to data from the CDC, the drowning rate in the U.S is on the rise, affecting nearly 4,000 people every year.

Gaines says the leading cause of death of children between ages 1 and 4 is drowning and that 90 percent of all drownings happen in front of an adult. He says it is extremely important that adults make sure they aren't distracted in and around the water.

"A child can drown in as little as 30 seconds, so it happens in a blink of an eye," Gaines said. "…The parent or the adult should never take their eye off their child when they're in and around the water."

For more information, you can visit the Step Into Swim website.