The Capital Regional District (CRD) has installed kids life jackets and flotation rings at two popular park beaches as it aims to increase the safety of residents frequenting local swimming spots.
Hamsterly Beach at Elk Lake and the main beach at Thetis Lake are now equipped with the life preservers, which will be available for beach-goers to loan.
The safety additions are in response to work the CRD started last fall, not long after an international high school student died after drowning at Thetis Lake. A 17-year-old died in June after drowning at Langford Lake.
The CRD board on July 10 also supported working with partners to increase water safety education for key demographic groups.
Lifeguards have patrolled the region's busy park beaches in the past, but budget pressures and recruiting challenges contributed to them being pulled from watering holes in the early 2000s.
Thetis Lake was staffed by lifeguards from 1970 to 1990, when the park was operated by the City of Victoria, and then again from 1994 to 2002 when it was under the CRD's purview. The District of Saanich operated lifeguards at Elk/Beaver Lake from 1966 to 1976 and the CRD continued those services until 2003.
The CRD surveyed the water safety policies of its counterparts from around the province and of the 18 regional districts that responded, none operated lifeguards at their parks. A small number of regional districts provided life rings or personal flotation devices. Lifeguards are also not provided at any municipal, provincial or national parks in the Capital Region.
Additionally, the CRD has not budgeted for reinstating lifeguards this year or next. The Lifesaving Society, a charity that works to prevent water-related, estimates that bringing back lifeguards would cost upwards of $270,000 per beach from May through September, and implementing them across the CRD's five busiest swimming beaches would cost around $1.35 million every summer season.
The CRD said its current safety measures at regional park waterways include signage at key locations, park rangers addressing risky behaviour and water-safety messaging on its website and social media pages. Partner agencies like West Shore RCMP and Transport Canada also attend CRD lakes to address dangerous behaviour, like cliff jumping, or engage boaters about life jacket requirements.
