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Advocates call for lifeguards, school water education and data improvements after Michigan drownings
Summary
Presenters at the House Oversight Subcommittee hearing described hundreds of Michigan drowning deaths and urged state investment in lifeguards at high-risk beaches, mandatory water-safety education, improved surveillance and targeted public messaging to reduce fatalities.
Advocates and survivors’ families told the House Oversight Subcommittee on Public Health and Food Security that Michigan’s drowning toll — concentrated in natural waters and the Great Lakes — requires state action including lifeguards at high‑use beaches, expanded water‑safety education and better data collection.
Dr. Greg Field, a water‑safety researcher, told the committee ‘‘it is truly a public health crisis’’ and said the state Department of Health and Human Services records 703 Michigan resident drowning deaths from 2018 through 2022, with roughly 40% occurring on natural waters. Presenters said those counts likely understate the true total because some drownings are coded as vehicle accidents or recorded in other data systems.
Bob Pratt of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project described average annual fatality counts on the Great Lakes and said Lake Michigan accounts for about half of recorded Great…
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