90% of drowning deaths occur in shallow water...©

 

 

Drowning in shallow water, an excerpt from Life Safety & Water Safety, The American Red Cross, page 19.

Recently my daughter and I were talking, and she told me about how one of her friends, when she said that she enjoyed wading in the large creek near our house, had expressed shock and horror, saying “Don’t you know that 90% of drowning deaths occur in shallow water”?!

 

I was surprised because I hadn’t heard that statistic before.  So, I did what I always do, and did some research, and here is what I found out.

 

90% of drowning deaths DO occur in shallow water, but...

 

This statistic is a widely quoted, and mis-quoted, fact authored by the Red Cross.  The Red Cross states that “90% of kids who drown in shallow water are either not with an adult or being effectively supervised by an adult”.  Now, while 90% of drowning deaths DO occur in shallow water, the Red Cross is referring to children, between the ages of one and four, not adults. 

 

However, the Red Cross also notes that, “90% of drowning deaths occur within 30 feet (10 meters) of safety”, or shore.  So, in other words most deaths occur in shallow water.  This is a completely different and, in my mind, a much more interesting statistic.  So, let’s talk about survival, death and dying, drowning and what happens when you get wet in the wilderness.

 

From Wikimedia, HERE.

Death and dying in the wilderness can happen, but the odds of dying in the wilderness are really, really low.  The United States National Park Service states, that between 120 to 140 people die each year, out of the 280 million people or so every year who visit the parks.  Let’s face it, you probably aren’t going to die in the wilderness! 

 

But, if you were to die, the “Big Five” of wilderness deaths are drowning, vehicle accident, falling, heart attack and hypothermia, in roughly that order.  Of these, dying in a vehicle accident isn’t really a wilderness thing, since mostly they happen along a roadside, and if you define wilderness as “a location remote enough so that standard ground-based emergency medical services units could not extract the body” ¹, then roadside accidents, just don’t happen in the wilderness.  Of the remaining four causes of death in the wilderness, three are due to accidental or unintentional trauma, and the other one, heart attack, is a situation caused by a preexisting condition, which requires a doctor’s medical care, and is not an accident. 

 

This statistic is the reason why you should get a yearly physical and always check with your doctor before heading out in the wilder parts of the world, for more about getting into wilderness shape, read “Getting into Wilderness Shape, a Three-Month Program ©”, HERE. 

 

Drowning in shallow water, an excerpt from Life Safety & Water Safety, The American Red Cross, page 23.

Drowning

 

Of the three remaining ways of dying accidentally in the wilderness, drowning is by far the leading cause of death, with around 55% of all accidental deaths² being due to drowning.  Perhaps this is because, while 85% of Americans can swim, only 56% can swim well enough to rescue themselves should they end up in the water suddenly or be swept off their feet³. 

 

The Red Cross statistic that most drowning deaths happen within 30 feet, or 10 meters of shore and safety is echoed by the fact that nationally, between 25% to 30% of all drowning deaths occur in water that is less than three feet deep.  As Lt. Shawn Jones of the Richmond, Virginia  Fire Department noted about the James River and drowning in shallow water, “You think 2 feet, 3 feet should be enough for people to stand up in, but if you come to the river, you know that it's so uneven.  The rocks are uneven; there's dips and falls and everything.  You can walk out there and be up to your ankles in water, then you take two more steps, and you are down to your waist ... They have that false sense of security that I can walk out into the water and just go out there, even though I can't swim”⁴.

 

Bertoldino falling into the fish pond, from Wikimedia HERE.

Falling into water...

A study from 1980 to 1992, in Pima County, Arizona, titled “Wilderness Mortalities”, noted that of the 59 accidental deaths reported, 25%, or 15 of the deaths were due solely to drowning, however the authors also noted, that a further 31%, or 18 fatalities, were caused by falling into water, being swept downriver by flash floods, or being washed over waterfalls, all of which ended in drowning, complicated by blunt force trauma.  Additionally, deaths because of falls and the associated fatal blunt force trauma alone, totaled almost 29%, or an additional 17 deaths⁵.

 

So, while falls and their associated blunt force trauma at 29%, account for more deaths than drowning alone, at 25%, falls into water which ended in drowning, at 31%, are the leading cause of death.  And when those deaths by falling into water, are added to those of simple drownings, you have a total of 56%, or that 33 of the 59 accidental deaths, are in some way due to water.

 

But it isn’t just drowning or being swept over a waterfall and being dashed on the rocks below, in a survival situation being wet kills, fast!

 

An excerpt from A Pocket Guide to Cold Water Survival, by the Coast Guard, page 12.

Hypothermia, being wet kills, fast!

 

Hypothermia, or exposure, as it is sometime also known, is the last of the big five and it is a dangerous lowering of your body’s core temper to below 95^o F (35^o C).  Contrary to popular belief, the air temperature doesn’t have to be below freezing for hypothermia to occur.  In fact, it occurs most often during the summer months, when people are less likely to prepared for falling temperatures due to a sudden storm or approaching nightfall.  If the temperatures drop and you have no warm layers to put on, especially if you are wet from sweat, rain, mist, or from falling in the water, you are at a risk for hypothermia.  Summertime exposure to the cold and wet can turn into a deadly situation, quick!

 

Exact statistics for hypothermia, as well as cold related injuries, such as fatigue and exhaustion, and the exact number of hypothermia deaths in the United States are unknown.  However, a detailed study of all search and rescue incidents in Canada, from 1970 to 2005, found that hypothermia was the most common type of non‐traumatic injury and accounted for almost 50%, or 153 out of the 310 injuries⁷.

 

If you are wet or immersed in water, you will lose body heat much faster than if you are dry.  Remember to always dress and bring gear for the worst possible weather, dress in layers, and if you get wet in the wilderness, dry off!

 

An excerpt from A Pocket Guide to Cold Water Survival, by the Coast Guard, page 12.

So, in the end my daughter’s friend was both right and wrong, but maybe not for the reasons she thought of.  Water IS dangerous and just as Dolly Garza, in the Outdoor Survival Training for Alaska’s Youth: Student Manual, noted “People who die in survival situations generally die from one of two causes – drowning or hypothermia”.

 

For more on hypothermia and water read “Hypothermia, It Can Happen Any Time, Anywhere ©”, HERE, “The 120 Degree Rule ©”, HERE, and “7 Habits of Highly Effective Winter Campers ©”, HERE.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Turnip Bread, a 17^th Century Recipe©”, , where we will talk about recreating an old bread recipe, that poor people used to stretch scarce flour.

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ From “Wilderness Mortalities: A 13-Year Experience”, by Torrey Goodman, et al., page 279

 

² Of the 59 cases of accidental or unintentional trauma leading to death, 15, or about 25% were simple drownings and 18, or about 31%, were falls into water which led to drowning.  The falls/drowning category used in “Wilderness Mortalities” included people who were swept over waterfalls, resulting in drowning or fatal blunt force trauma.

 

From “Wilderness Mortalities: A 13-Year Experience”, by Torrey Goodman, et al., page 281

 

³ From “Drowning Is One of the Backcountry’s Worst Dangers—But This Essential Skill Could Help You Save a Life”, by Christopher Tedeschi

 

⁴ WWBT NBC12, “Nationally 25% of drowning deaths happen in water 3 feet or less”, August 16, 2011.

 

⁵ From “Wilderness Mortalities: A 13-Year Experience”, by Torrey Goodman, et al., page 281

 

⁶ From “Accidental hypothermia in recreational activities in the

mountains: A narrative review”, by Proctor, et al.

 

Sources

 

Coast Guard, Department of Transportation, A Pocket Guide to Cold Water Survival, CG 473, September 1975, https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5QafxNJBmiIml6O4jiudRpr2rz8pLfodQOiq-4gZNh4xa5uIN_rq05C2yAes1AYw67Ziq189QaQaFDHBHE0SJivfCxjMW1DReANLjFqw1qX6jEl2mz1HPKXj4BRQJv8zAOcO6oDE70Dcv__VE2uPh4tEqLSzMxDRiWOv3p6ssyQjE2bevJMX7-Ol2KDtIPQVcVuaJudJMLaOOuSUVs8qYS1Nlaxnm47GVOCXLR79KzL6nV3R0zZG4DxRt9hoYrIRGugXm6RVfbU2gxeix7JLKbxpvQsNB9w, accessed May 1, 2022

 

Garza, Dolly; Outdoor Survival Training for Alaska’s Youth: Student Manual, Alaska Sea Grant College Program, [University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 1998], page 8

 

Howe, Steve; “A Dozen Ways to Die”, March 12, 2008, [© 2022 Outside Interactive, Inc], https://www.backpacker.com/survival/a-dozen-ways-to-die/, accessed November 6, 2022

 

London, Jack; “To Build A Fire”, The Century Magazine, August 1908, Vol. LXXVI, No. 4, [The Century Company, New York, 1908], p. 525-534, https://books.google.com/books?id=8XkAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA518&lpg=PA518&dq=%22to+build+a+fire%22+%22jack+london%22+1908+%22century+Magazine%22&source=bl&ots=Erpfoe9twm&sig=ACfU3U2hNB3BlOJWvbrdE1Lr4ctAFaxIHQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhsNTjjLHlAhXhQ98KHTfiBwU4MhDoATAIegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=%22to%20build%20a%20fire%22%20%22jack%20london%22%201908%20%22century%20Magazine%22&f=false, accessed 11/02/2019

 

Montalvo, MD, Raul; Wingard, PhD., Deborah L.; Bracker, MD, Mark; and Davidson, MD, Terence M.; Morbidity and Mortality in the Wilderness, San Diego, California, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1304948/pdf/westjmed00331-0022.pdf, accessed November 6, 2022

 

Proctor, Emily; Brugger, Hermann; Burtscherformat, Martin; “Accidental hypothermia in recreational activities in the mountains: A narrative review”, [Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports Published by John Wiley & Sons, 2018], https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/sms.13294, accessed November 18, 2022

 

Tedeschi, Christopher; “Drowning Is One of the Backcountry’s Worst Dangers—But This Essential Skill Could Help You Save a Life”, Backpacker, August 17, 2021, [© 2022 Outside Interactive, Inc], https://www.backpacker.com/skills/outdoor-first-aid/drowning-is-one-of-the-backcountrys-worst-dangers-but-this-essential-skill-could-help-you-save-a-life/, accessed November 9, 2022

 

The American Red Cross; Life Saving & Water Safety, [Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1967], page 19 and 23

 

Vuković, Diane; “8 Biggest Threats When Surviving In the Wilderness”, February 5, 2021, [© 2021 Primal Survivor ™], https://www.primalsurvivor.net/8-biggest-threats-when-surviving-in-the-wilderness/, accessed November 6, 2022

 

Wikimedia, “Plate 11: Bertoldino falling into the fish pond, from Bertoldo, Bertoldino, and Cacasenno", by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, (1665–1747), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plate_11-_Bertoldino_falling_into_the_fish_pond_Met_DP889616.jpg, accessed November 8, 2022

 

Wikimedia, “UXO warning, Laos 2009”, by Photo: AusAID, February 13, 2009, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UXO_warning,_Laos_2009._Photo-_AusAID_(10684527346).jpg, accessed November 8, 2022

 

WWBT NBC12, “Nationally 25% of drowning deaths happen in water 3 feet or less”, August 16, 2011, https://www.nbc12.com/story/15275723/sunni-shallow-drowning/, accessed October 27, 2022