Lots of children drown every summer. This is not inevitable.

It was supposed to be a day of summer fun for the Cohn family. In July 2007, Karen and Brian Cohn had recently welcomed their fourth child and moved into a new home. Their son Zachary, 6 years old, was swimming in their new pool. The Cohns had ensured their pool met the city’s safety codes for fencing and door alarms. Little did they know that the pool’s drain cover had come loose, exposing a powerful vacuum pump that, within seconds, trapped Zachary’s arm and held him underwater. By the time the Cohns shut off the pool’s power, Zachary had drowned.

Read more of the Washington Post’s opinion piece on drowning prevention.