One of the highest causes of accidental death in young children in Florida is drowning.

Polk County ranks No. 8 out of 67 counties in Florida in drowning deaths in the 1-4 year age group.

Polk County Drowning Prevention Task Force's mission statement is to increase water safety awareness by promoting water safety and educating the community on resources and opportunities to prevent drowning.

Members are Citizen CPR Inc., Lakeland Regional Medical Center Trauma Services, West Central Florida YMCA, Lake Wales YMCA, Winter Haven Nautical Club, Polk County Sheriffs Office, Polk County EMS, Winter Haven Fire Department, city of Lakeland Parks and Recreation Department, Polk County Health Department, Coalition on Injury Prevention, and SafeKids Polk County Chapter.

As a group, they are asking parents, and grandparents to learn and relearn as much as they can about water safety for children.

Basic water-safety steps for parents to take to protect their children include the following:

• Actively supervising children around water, and having a phone nearby to call for help in an emergency.

• Making sure pools have fences around all four sides and have a self-closing, self-latching gate to prevent children from wandering into the pool area unsupervised.

• Covering hot tubs when not using them.

• Installing door alarms, window alarms or both to alert people in the house if children wander into the pool area unsupervised.

The YMCA in Lake Wales has April Pool Day on April 12 and the YMCA in North Lakeland has an April Splash Party on April 26.

Both will provide information on water-safety issues.

Here is a list of Web sites that carry information on water safety, boating safety and information about where to take swimming and CPR classes: