With warm weather finally here, the message is clear: enjoying the water starts with making safety your top priority.
To coincide with Water Safety Week, Life Saving Victoria has this week released the 2024/25 Victorian Drowning Report, providing critical insights into drowning trends and risk factors across the state.
Sadly, 52 people fatally drowned in Victorian waterways in the past year, a 9% increase on the decade average.
Alarmingly, regional residents are 1.5x more likely to drown than our metropolitan neighbours, with inland waterway locations recording 15 drowning deaths.
The report highlights the importance of ongoing education and awareness to reduce preventable tragedies in our inland regional communities.
Ballarat Aquatic & Lifestyle Centre’s Manager, Gerald Dixon, says our community are at increased risk of drowning with inland waterways playing such a big part of our lives.
“Regional communities like Ballarat spend significant time around these inland water environments during the summer months, making education and preparedness essential to prevent drownings”.
“As emphasised in this years’ report, it’s our responsibility to develop and run programs for people who have been identified as high-risk”.
The Inland Water Safety Program, hosted by Ballarat Aquatic & Lifestyle Centre, will return this summer from 19 – 21 January 2026.
Different to traditional ‘learn to swim’ classes, the 3-day program focusses on environmental and risk awareness, survival and rescue skills in open water and introduces emergency response through interactive activities.
Day 2 & 3 of the program will be held at Lake Wendouree, enabling participants to practice their new skills in a real-world setting.
For more information about the Inland Water Safety Program and to enrol online, please click here.
