Canberra parents have been urged to make sure that children learn life-saving skills and not just how to swim.
The plea comes as new figures show that more Australians are drowning as the country faces record high temperatures.
The ACT's Operations Manager at Royal Life Saving, Jackie Rousseau, said that it was important to learn life-saving skills.
"Learning how to swim is not enough. People need to know how to get out of trouble. That's the big thing," she said.
She was also concerned about people jumping into rivers.
Two people drowned in the ACT in the past year, both of them in inland water.
Ms Rousseau said that with rivers, "You don't know the currents, you don't know the depth. They have silent dangers and they have invisible dangers."
She said there was a particular problem with young men drowning in the sea and inland water when they were drunk. Not wearing life jackets was also a problem.
Across Australia, there were 276 drowning deaths in 2018-19, a 10 per cent increase from the previous financial year, according to Royal Life Saving Society Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia which released their reports together.
Over the three summer months alone there were 123 drowning deaths, a 17 per cent increase compared with the 10-year average.
The two associations jointly warn that risky behaviour around waterways and poor swimming ability continue to impact drowning rates.
Royal Life Saving chief executive Justin Scarr said, "Last summer was particularly bad on our waterways."
Hotter, drier weather would lead to more people in the water and it was important Australians practised water safety, he said.
"Unfortunately, more people in the water means more people at risk of drowning," he said.
Swimmers have been advised to supervise their kids, to stick between the flags and learn lifesaving skills.
There were 122 coastal drowning deaths in 2018-19, marking a 14 per cent increase from 2017-18.
Nearly 90 per cent of the people who drowned at the coast were male, with alcohol and drugs a big factor, Mr Scarr said.
Coastal drownings combines the number of drownings at beaches, rock or cliff locations and offshore.
The majority, or 58 per cent, of coastal drowning deaths occurred at the beach.
Rivers accounted for the majority of all drowning deaths. The 80 deaths represented 29 per cent of all drowning fatalities in 2018-19.
People aged 20-24 make up the highest number of coastal drowning victims, with nearly half of all coastal drownings - 42 per cent - happening during summer.
Over half of drowning deaths of kids aged under four occurred in swimming pools, but drownings in that age bracket decreased by 30 per cent against the 10-year average.
NSW recorded the highest number of drowning deaths, followed by Queensland.
Victoria was the only state to record an increase in drowning deaths against the 10-year average.
Australian Associated Press
