Ways to Protect Your Family In and Out of the Water

May is National Water Safety Month. As spring quickly turns into summer, this time of year offers a friendly reminder that water safety means more than just watching kids around a pool. True water safety begins before anyone gets their feet wet. It starts with the water running through your taps and extends all the way to your backyard, your local pond, and every body of water your family encounters throughout the summer.​

At Aqua Pump Company, we’ve spent more than 50 years helping families throughout Connecticut and western Massachusetts protect their most essential resource. This month, we’re sharing practical ways to keep your family safe, from what’s in your water to what to do when you’re in it.

Protecting Your Water Quality at Home

For many families, the water flowing through their home comes directly from a private well. Unlike municipal water supplies, private wells are the homeowner’s responsibility, which means regular testing, maintenance, and treatment are your responsibility. Even families on city water can benefit from understanding what’s in their supply and how to improve it. The tips below are a good starting point for making sure the water your family relies on every day is as clean and safe as it should be.

1. Test Your Well Water Annually

If your home relies on a private well, annual testing isn’t optional, it’s essential. Well water can contain contaminants that are completely colorless and odorless, making them impossible to detect without proper testing. At Aqua Pump Co., we offer free in-office water testing (and can arrange lab testing when needed) to give you a clear picture of what’s in your water.

2. Know the Common Contaminants

Connecticut groundwater can contain iron, manganese, arsenic, uranium, radon, and hardness minerals. All are naturally occurring, and all are worth monitoring. A professional water test will identify which, if any, are present in your supply and at what levels.

3. Test for PFAS

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals that have made their way into groundwater across the region, including in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The EPA has issued health warnings about PFAS exposure, yet many homeowners have never tested for them. Aqua Pump Co. offers PFAS testing and can implement filtration systems if contamination is found.

4. Don’t Ignore Warning Signs

Discolored water, an unusual odor, a metallic taste, or staining on fixtures are all signs that something may be off with your water supply. Don’t wait for a problem to resolve itself. These are warning signs to schedule a water test sooner rather than later.

5. Consider a Whole-Home Filtration System

Whether you have city or well water, a whole-house water filtration system ensures that every tap in your home (for drinking, cooking, and bathing) delivers clean, treated water. It’s one of the most effective long-term investments you can make for your family’s health.

6. Keep Your Well Accessible and Well-Maintained

Overgrown landscaping, buried well heads, and aging well casings are some of the most common contributors to contamination. Know where your well is located, keep the area clear, and schedule routine well maintenance to catch minor problems before they become major ones.

7. Schedule a Water System Inspection Before Summer

Spring is the ideal time to have a professional evaluate your pump, pressure tank, and filtration systems. Increased summer water usage can stress equipment that was already showing wear, and a pre-season inspection helps ensure your system is ready.

Protecting Your Family Around Water

The water safety picture extends well beyond the kitchen faucet. As temperatures rise and families spend more time at pools, lakes, and ponds across the region, the stakes go up. Connecticut has seen drowning deaths among children spike in recent years, with young children ages 2 to 4 and teens ages 16 to 17 representing the two groups most impacted. According to the CDC, more than 4,500 people died from drowning annually between 2020 and 2022, which is 500 more per year compared to 2019. However, it is important to know that drowning is preventable, and awareness is where prevention starts. To help keep families and communities safe this summer (and every season), the following tips offer reminders to everyone.

8. Never Leave Young Children Unattended Near Water

According to the Red Cross, for children younger than 5, 87% of drowning fatalities happen in home pools or hot tubs, most in pools owned by family, friends, or relatives. A moment of distraction is all it takes. Young children require constant, eyes-on supervision anytime they are near water.

9. Designate a Water Watcher

At backyard gatherings, it’s easy for everyone to assume someone else is watching the kids. Assign a specific adult as the designated water watcher, someone whose only job is monitoring the pool without distractions. Rotate the role so no one bears the responsibility alone for an extended period.

10. Install a Four-Sided Pool Fence

A fence at least four feet high with a self-latching, self-closing gate creates an essential barrier between young children and your pool when no one is supervising. This is one of the best documented drowning prevention measures available.

11. Enroll Children in Swim Lessons, Including Survival Swimming

Learning to swim is one of the most important life skills a child can develop. For the youngest learners, survival swimming (the ability to float, roll, and self-rescue) is especially valuable. For example, in Connecticut, programs like Infant Aquatics CT offer infant survival swimming instruction designed specifically to give young children critical water competency skills before they ever encounter an emergency situation. With over 18 years in business, Infant Aquatics has helped thousands of families through survival swim training for young children. Families across Connecticut trust Infant Aquatics with this essential water safety training due to their proven method, trained instructors, and obsessive mission to teach babies and young children how to survive in water-related accidents.

12. Learn CPR

Knowing hands-on CPR with rescue breaths can be the difference between life and death in the minutes before emergency services arrive. The American Red Cross and local hospitals throughout Connecticut offer CPR certification courses year-round.

13. Wear Life Jackets in Open Water and on Boats

In boating fatalities, most victims were not wearing life jackets. Make life jackets mandatory for children at all times on boats and near open water. Adults should wear them in unfamiliar or moving water.

14. Respect Open Water

Lakes, rivers, and ponds carry risks that pools do not. Notably, variable currents, uneven depth, low visibility, and cold water temperatures. Teach children and teens never to swim alone in open water, and always swim in areas where lifeguards are present when possible.

15. Keep Safety Equipment Poolside

A reaching pole, a life ring, and a basic first aid kit should be within arm’s reach of any residential pool. These tools are low cost and rarely needed, right up until the moment they’re essential.

Aqua Pump Co. Is Here for Your Family All Season Long

Water safety is a year-round commitment, and the quality of the water your family drinks, cooks with, and bathes in is part of that commitment. For over 50 years, Aqua Pump Company has been the go-to resource for Connecticut and western Massachusetts residents. Our team specializes in water testing, well maintenance, and water treatment systems designed to keep your water safe year-round. From comprehensive well services, including electronic well locating to bringing buried wells to grade, well inspections and 24-hour emergency pump repairs, we know the local water supply to ensure your family has access to the safest water possible.

Clean water and a safe summer start with one phone call. Contact the Aqua Pump Company today to schedule water testing or speak with one of our water quality specialists.

Do it Once – Do it Right.