When the weather in the Sacramento area starts to warm up and summertime approaches, people get the urge to go swimming to cool off. But the local waterways present unseen dangers, as the water runs fast and cold.
Brian Dulgar is the director of the Sacramento State Aquatic Center. He has been a part of the program for over three decades and has learned many lessons from his years spent in and around the water. Dulgar says at this time of year, he and his staff have a heightened awareness of the dangers the water presents.
“You need to understand that if you're in the water and it's cold, you can only be there for a certain amount of minutes before your body basically just quits functioning,” Dulgar said, referring to the risk of hypothermia.
Dulgar wants to make swimmers aware that, while the outdoor temperature can be over 90 degrees fahrenheit, the temperature of the water in the lower American River can be under 60 degrees - enough to cause hypothermia in a short period of time.
“You get in that cold water and your body freezes up, you get cramped up,” Dulgar said. “And if you're not wearing the properly fitting apparel to mitigate against [it], whether it's a wetsuit or a life jacket, then it can be dangerous.”
Dulgar and other swimming safety experts agree that life jackets are crucial to avoiding dangerous situations in the water and potentially prevent deaths from drowning.
“If somebody goes down without a life jacket, you have a finite amount of time for which to do a rescue before it becomes a recovery,” Dulgar said.
Dulgar recalled an incident where a young woman was endangered by attempting to swim across the channel between the aquatic center and the Nimbus Flat State Recreation Area. The stretch of water is approximately 100 yards across.
He swam over to her as fast as he could to save her, and says that she was limp in his arms due to extreme fatigue. The woman was not wearing a life jacket.
Dulgar says that every waterway presents different risks, and that whether swimming in a lake, a river or a pool, different swimming safety rules apply. He says that the underwater terrain is constantly shifting due to changes in water currents.
“You could be walking out on a gravel sandbar, feel totally safe, take one step, and next thing you know, your feet are swiped out from underneath you,” Dulgar said. “And you can get hung up on a tree that had fallen over from the previous storm, snag on the side of the river, where, you know, a week earlier that snag wasn't there.”
Forty-seven rescues on the lower American River
Sacramento County Chief Ranger Leonard Orman works closely with rescue teams that patrol the lower American River each year.
“What we find is the greatest probable contributor to the tragedies that we have with adults is that they underestimate the river and they overestimate their skill level at swimming,” Orman said. “And this river doesn't really have a lot of whitewater type environments to it, especially as we get into the summer. But folks see this nice smooth running river, don't realize that it's very deep, 50-plus feet deep sometimes, depending on the time of the year and the location.”
The 50-plus foot water depth that Orman is referring to was measured at the El Manto Bluffs, a.k.a Clay Banks, a notoriously dangerous area for swimmers in the lower American River, where currents are known to be lethal. Diving is prohibited in this area due to the risks.
Orman says that drugs and alcohol are very often a factor in tragedies in and around the water. He says that the risk from misusing substances in and around the water comes from reductions in the body’s ability to react in dangerous situations, and that alcohol intoxication can increase the risk of hypothermia.
“I would definitely recommend anybody that's planning on getting in the water, don't be drunk, don't be high, don't be on some other type of substance, because that's going to contribute to your risk,” Orman said.
Last year four adult males died from swimming in the lower American River, all in the month of June. Orman says that a rescue boat deployed at the El Manto Bluffs following the tragedies made 30 rescues throughout the rest of the summer, preventing additional deaths from drowning. Orman says there were a total of 47 rescues along the lower American River last year.
He says that this year a rescue boat will be deployed every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day, provided the water conditions are safe enough for the operations.
Orman says the most significant water rescue operation carried out by rangers last year was when they saved a father who jumped in the water to rescue a toddler who was wearing a life jacket. The man started to drown, but rangers were able to rescue both of them successfully.
“Obviously, that could have ended in horrific tragedy, and it didn't, and it was only because we were there at the right time in the right place,” Orman said.
But not every endangered swimmer is lucky enough to have a rescue team available. Orman says that at this time of year, the water is moving fast and cold.
“Stay out of the river at this point in the year, probably be the same recommendations coming up on the holiday weekend and then also July 4th weekend and it's going to be that water is still going to be very cold,” Orman said. “I just can't emphasize enough for parents to be with your kids, don't let them walk away. Even when they're on the bank, they need to have life jackets if they're anywhere close to the water.”
There is an ordinance in Sacramento County that children 13 and under must wear life jackets while in public waterways. If parents of children in this age range do not follow the ordinance, they can receive a citation.
Water watchers
Safe Kids Greater Sacramento Injury Prevention Specialist Jennifer Rubin agrees with Orman’s guidance to those who bring their children to any waterway. Safe Kids Greater Sacramento holds water safety courses for parents and children to teach them swimming safety.
“We'll ask them to tell parents and caregivers to make sure kids are always supervised near water and that there's barriers around pools to slow down kids from getting to the water when they're not being supervised,” Rubin said.
A key piece of guidance that Rubin gives to parents is for responsible adults to be designated as “water watchers” who keep a vigilant watch over children who are around the water.
“At a party or a picnic, we think everyone's watching the kids. No one's watching the kids. So we want to appoint someone,” Rubin said.
She says that family members can take turns watching their children, and that people should not underestimate water depth, as drop offs such as those at Discovery Park and the American River Parkway can in fact be dangerously steep.
Rubin says that drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death in Sacramento County in children ages one to four, and that backyard pools are particularly dangerous to this age group.
Rubin points out to families that life jacket loaner stations are located along the river, and the fire stations nearest to the river can also provide life jackets to the public.
“I once had a fire battalion chief say to me that he could set his watch and know when an emergency is going to happen,” Rubin said. “It's going to be on the weekend, it's going to be hot outside and it's going to be in the afternoon. And there's going to be a teenager or young adult that has been out on the water, drinking all day, gets dehydrated, and around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon is going to overestimate their swimming abilities and get into trouble in the water. And that really is what happens in the river.”
