Honolulu, Hawaiʻi - Today the Hawaiʻi Water Safety Coalition (HWSC) released the first Hawaiʻi Water Safety Plan to address the drowning crisis that is threatening the health of Hawaiʻi's residents and visitor-dependent economy.
“I Palekana Kākou Ka Wai: Let Us Be Safe in the Water,” is a roadmap to countering Hawaiʻi's drowning crisis by ensuring that everyone is safe on, in, and around the water. The coalition, under the umbrella of the Hawaiian Lifeguard Association, called on water safety stakeholders across the state, including bereaved parents, to help HWSC identify the state's most urgent drowning prevention recommendations.
The U.S. National Water Safety Action Plan, released in 2023, challenged all states to create their own plan. Hawaiʻi, which is undergoing a drowning crisis, is the first state after California to produce a plan.
Kalani Vierra, president of the Hawaiian Lifeguard Association, said, "The Hawaiian Lifeguard Association is deeply honored to support the launch of the Hawaiʻi Water Safety Action Plan. Our beautiful Hawaiian Islands, surrounded by the magnificent Pacific Ocean, attract millions of visitors each year. Sadly, drowning remains the leading cause of injury-related death for visitors in our state. Moreover, it’s heartbreaking to know that for our local youth aged 1 to 15, drowning is the foremost cause of death."
“We sincerely hope that the Hawaiʻi Water Safety Action Plan will make a meaningful impact in reducing the tragic incidents of drowning and preventing aquatic injuries across our islands,” Vierra said. “The ocean and our waterways are not just resources; they are part of our home and our lives. It is our collective responsibility, our kuleana, to protect our cherished waters and to raise awareness about the hidden dangers they may hold. Together, we can work to ensure a safer experience for everyone who enjoys the beauty of Hawaii.”
Data in the plan from John “Kalei” Kaleimakaliʻi Thorton Clark, an epidemiologist who is the great-grandnephew of legendary waterman Duke Kahanamoku, shows that those who are most connected to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander heritages are drowning in higher numbers, especially among the youth.
Other key drowning statistics from the Hawaiʻi Water Safety Plan, include:
1. Drowning is the number one cause of death for children in Hawai'i, ages 1–15.
2. Hawaiʻi’s resident drowning rate is the second highest in the nation behind Alaska.
3. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are about 27% of Hawai'i s population yet make up 36% of resident drowning deaths.
4. Less than 2% of Hawaiʻi's second graders have the basic skills to avoid or recover from drowning.
5. Drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death for our visitors.
Dr. Pat Morgan, a member of the Child Death Review in Hawaiʻi and medical director of Kapiʻolani Child Advocacy and Protection (KCAP) Center at the Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children, said "Unfortunately, every year in Hawai‘i we lose several young children to fatal drownings, and we see many more in the emergency department. Some kids even suffer long-term health effects such as brain damage."
“Drownings are preventable with constant adult supervision in and around the water, including at home,” Morgan said. “Toddlers are especially at risk, as are children with other health conditions including autism. Our goal is to protect children from drowning in Hawai‘i."
In the 2025 Legislative Session, Rep. Jeanne Kapela (D-5, portions of Kea‘au and Kurtistown, Mountain View, Glenwood, Fern Forest, Volcano, Pāhala, Punalu‘u, Nā‘ālehu, Wai‘ōhinu, Hawaiian Ocean View, Ho‘okena) and Senate Majority Floor Leader Glenn Wakai (D-15 Kalihi, Māpunapuna, Airport, Salt Lake, Āliamanu, Foster Village, Hickam, Pearl Harbor, and portions of ‘Aiea and Pearl City) introduced a package of bills inspired by recommendations in the Hawai‘i Water Safety Plan.
"In Hawaiʻi, we are surrounded by the beautiful ocean, and it should be a straightforward decision to incorporate water safety into our curriculum, starting in our schools," said Representative Jeanne Kapela. "A water safety education program equips our keiki with the knowledge and skills they need to stay safe in and around the water, while minimizing risk in our communities."
“As we continue to face the challenges of our changing climate and growing populations, it is our duty to strengthen water safety measures, especially for our children here in Hawaiʻi. Our intention of introducing these bills is to safeguard our communities’ health, prevent tragic accidents, and ensure that every family has peace of mind knowing their loved ones are safe in and around water," said Senate Majority Floor Leader Glenn Wakai.
House Bill 1234 and Senate Bill 1223 requires and appropriates funds for, the Department of Education to establish a standards-based Water Safety Education Pilot Program.
Shirley De Rego, a bereaved family advocate who lost her 12-year-old son Alexander to drowning, said “Drowning is at the door knocking, and we can't wait any longer to act. We must take immediate steps to implement water safety education in our public schools to equip our keiki with essential life-saving skills and reduce these preventable tragedies."
De Rego is president and founder of the Alex & Duke De Rego Foundation, one of the HWSC’s members dedicated to fostering a generation of children who are confident and capable in the water, ensuring a safer future for Hawaiʻi's communities.
The HWSC’s other legislative priorities House Bill 1233 and Senate Bill 1222 establish basic safety requirements for the construction of new retention and detention ponds such as requiring signage, fencing, and life buoy flotation devices to help buy time if someone is struggling in the pond. They also require a survey of existing retention and detention ponds statewide.
House Bill 1232 and Senate Bill 1221 also establish basic safety requirements for the construction of new retention and detention ponds. Additionally, they appropriate funds to create a statewide inspection and monitoring program.
Golf courses, hotels, resort properties, or other secured recreational areas are exempt from the safety requirements in these bills provided that they provide security for their detention and retention ponds.
The retention and detention pond safety bills were inspired by Charlotte “Sharkey” Schaefers, who drowned February 28, 2004, helping to save a childhood friend who was struggling in an improperly maintained and flooded detention pond in Pearl City. Detention ponds are dry until they need to hold rainwater; in this case, the pipe in the pond was 89% clogged causing it to suddenly turn into a death pit. Detention ponds are usually located in the public areas of housing developments, in park spaces, often near playgrounds.
The developers of the neighborhood said, “the cost to fix it outweighed the liabilities.”
However, Sharkey’s family was awarded a $2 million settlement, the largest wrongful death settlement for a child at that time in Hawaiʻi’s history.
Sharkey is the daughter of Allison Schaefers, a HWSC bereaved parent volunteer, who was the lead writer for the HWSC’s Hawaiʻi Water Safety Plan. Schaefers said, “Hawaiʻi needs more drowning champions, and I invite all to join the HWSC to keep our momentum strong. If a 5-year-old can be a hero, we can all be heroes.”
Schaefers said climate change, which is causing more frequent and intense heavy rain events, has increased the use of detention and retention ponds and the urgency to regulate them.
Jessamy Town Hornor, who cofounded HWSC with Sarah Fairchild, the executive director of the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation, is another bereaved volunteer, who was central to completion of the Hawai‘i Water Safety Plan.
Hornor's husband Mark, 46, and youngest daughter Mina, 6, died at the Makapu'u Tidepools in 2016 when a rogue wave from an offshore storm swept across the entire area.
"When Mark took our daughters down to the tidepools that day he couldn't tell that there was a storm offshore, it looked fine and there were a lot of people down there. Most of them happened to leave just before the wave hit — it could have been a mass casualty incident.,” Hornor said. “Mark and Mina would be alive today if a better warning system had been in place.”
Hornor said she co-founded HWSC to implement statewide initiatives to reduce drowning such as an access app with live alerts for beaches and trails, a drowning prevention messaging campaign, and in-school water safety lessons.
“Mark and Mina are missed every single day, and I hope that their legacy will be many lives saved,” she said.
Last year, Gov. Josh Green signed two HWSC-initiated bills into law. One designating May 15th of each year as Water Safety Day in Hawai‘i was propelled by the memory of Mina Hornor and Mark Hornor as well as other lives lost to drowning. Another bill honored Duke Kahanamoku’s enduring legacy by authorizing the issuance of special license plates commemorating his life. Funds raised will support water safety programs.
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