It’s All About The Water.
The WaterStrong mission is to end drowning and promote safer, cleaner waters
I founded WaterStrong in 2016, moved to action after a tragic drowning took the lives of four members of the Garcia-Ixtacua family in a lake near my home, at a picnic area I know like the back of my hand. More than ten years later, that incident still sits with communities in Forest Grove and first responders throughout Oregon who remember that day vividly. Hagg Lake has a complex history and it is one of my favorite places to swim, bike and trail run; it’s also a popular gathering place for families from around the world who come to live in the Portland metropolitan area. After the incident, I determined to be part of the solution, to do what I can to rebuild a foundation in the fundamentals of water safety and water stewardship: as we care for the water, the water cares for us.
In WaterStrong’s first three years, I followed my global training in law and dispute resolution to lead programs in Peru, Vietnam, Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Oregon with my children in tow whenever possible. The global programs took a break during the COVID pandemic and since then WaterStrong has anchored in to build partnerships locally. We are making a real difference at home. Many of the same dynamics play out locally as elsewhere in the world. The same challenges to finding affordable swim lessons and basic lifesaving skills run socioeconomic lines. The same fundamental concerns around accessing clean water for basic human needs, protecting watershed health and groundwater resources show up in Morrow county just like in Bimini, Bahamas. The same fears and hopes for the next generation are all here: to survive, be stronger and more confident, to build marketable skills and to overcome obstacles. This is the WaterStrong story. It’s about the water and it’s about survival. My goal is to reconnect humans with water in the most basic ways, so that we are more confident in the water, we understand it, and we have the will and the fundamental skills to take care of the water and each other so that we all can survive.
WaterStrong is a Candid Gold certified nonprofit organization with the mission to end drowning and promote cleaner, safer waters.
A 1% For the Planet nonprofit partner, WaterStrong delivers confidence building lifesaving skills and a deep love for the water through our programs, destroying barriers along the way. The EcoSwim curriculum focuses on the essentials of basic water safety, survival swimming, and the fundamentals of environmental education around water. WaterStrong is a licensed Red Cross Training Provider and Lifesaving Resources Partner. Our volunteers are also certified Red Cross Trainers and certified Lifesaving Resources Water Rescue Instructors.
WaterStrong Method & Eco-Swim Clinics
The WaterStrong Method is a unique curriculum that combines environmental education with water safety and swimming. Clinics are tailored for children and their families who live in the local community and do not have access to swimming lessons and/or environmental education. WaterStrong Method learning objectives include highly accessible environmental education, water safety, and survival swim skills. The goal of an Eco-Swim Clinic is for every participant to learn life-saving skills in a single day, destroying barriers along the way.
Fundamental life skills
Learning to swim is a fundamental life skill. Not only does it build confidence in one’s physical abilities, but it establishes an indelible connection between a person’s survival in the water and their appreciation for aquatic ecosystems. Understanding the natural environment is critical to our survival on Earth. We learn how the water cycle functions, appreciate watershed dynamics, follow the causes and effects of climate change, and develop the skills and awareness to reverse the self-destructive habits that are killing our planet. These skills will make the difference between life and death.
Intricately connected to our waters.
With over 380,000 deaths per year, drowning is the third leading cause of accidental injury death in the world, with low-income children at greatest risk. Yet drowning deaths are nearly always preventable: we can make a difference.
Every day, 2 million tons of sewage and industrial and agricultural waste are discharged into the world’s water, the equivalent of the weight of the entire human population of 6.8 billion people. The UN estimates that the amount of wastewater produced annually is about 1,500 cubic kilometers, six times more water than exists in all the rivers of the world. Worldwide, infectious diseases such as waterborne diseases are the number one killer of children under five years old and more people die from unsafe water annually than from all forms of violence, including war.
At less than .025% of the world’s waters, our world’s freshwater resources are in crisis. Nearly every body of open water is threatened by contamination, overfishing, water shortages, or climate change impacts. As a global community we have a duty to conserve, protect and clean up our oceans, rivers and lakes.
WaterStrong goes where we’re invited.
We work closely with community partners to tailor our Eco-Swim programs to the water safety and environmental concerns of the location where the project takes place so that participants learn about the waters closest to their own homes.