COLORADO SPRINGS — A record number of people have died in Colorado waterways this year while out for some fun.
36 people lost their lives in water related recreation incidents, so far in 2022. It is two more than the high of 34 two years ago.
“A majority of these were preventable,” said Joey Livingston with Colorado Parks and Recreation.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife tracks the numbers, including the ones not at state parks. The tally of water recreation deaths happened at lakes and rivers across the state.
A couple of the tragedies were caused by things like a heart attack or injuries.
Most who lost their lives drowned.
The data shows a scenario that happens too often, which is people who have lifejackets near-by but not wearing them.
"We would highly recommend that you wear your life jacket at all times,” said Livingston, “In a stressful situation where a lot of things are happening at once, It's going to be very hard to get the life jacket on."
The hope is the numbers get more people to think about water safety.
With four months left in the year many water recreation areas are still busy because of the on-going summer like temperatures.
Even when it gets cold people still go to waterways for fishing and hunting.
In addition to the 36 water recreation related drownings, two more people drowned in Colorado this year during a flash-flood.
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