Maricopa child-drowning rate 20-year low

Pool & Spa News, August 22, 2005

The 2004 drowning rate for children under 4 in Maricopa County, Ariz., is the Lowest it has been in 20 years. There is also a chance that the county's rate could drop again this year. According to the "Water-related incidents in Maricopa County, 2004" report released at the end of July by the Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Public Health Statistics, 42 children ages 4 or younger had a life-threatening incident in the pool.

Last year, 13 children ages 4 or younger drowned, while this year 10 have drowned; eight were ages 4 or younger. The rate has fallen every year since 2001, when 57 children had incidents. For more information regarding child-drowning incidents in Maricopa County, please refer to "Children of the Desert" in the August 8, 2005, issue of Pool & Spa News.