Deaths in swimming pools: the alarm that isn’t there

A five-year-old boy died last Wednesday in Monterotondo whilst attending a summer camp, in a shallow paddling pool for young children, despite the presence of a lifeguard by the poolside and fifteen other children nearby. A few days earlier, in Milano Marittima, a four-year-old Austrian girl drowned in a hotel swimming pool. Her father had stepped away for a few minutes; the gates were open, but there was no lifeguard on duty at that time of day. On 17 July, in Sestri Levante, an eleven-year-old girl drowned after her hair was sucked into the suction pump at a beach resort. The common thread linking these three tragedies, which occurred in quick succession, appears to be a lack of supervision – whether for a moment or for an entire afternoon.

A series of events that has sparked a sort of "swimming pool alert" in the press, featuring front-page stories, promises of accelerated regulatory action by the government, and trade associations divided between those calling for more checks and those fearing soaring costs. The Italian Society of Environmental Medicine has crunched the figures: 75 fatalities between January 2022 and 16 July 2026, an average of 16 per year. It goes without saying that even a single death is one too many, but we reiterate this point nonetheless. Yet, before giving in to alarmism, the absolute figure should be compared with those of previous years: the ISS average for the five-year period 2017–2021 was 30 deaths a year – almost double. The Italian National Institute of Health, in a report on prevention, cites 37 swimming pool drownings in the two-year period 2024–25: fewer than 20 a year. Data from Federalberghi, updated to the end of May, also show the same decline: 63 deaths since 2022, an average of 14 per year, compared with 30–40 in the previous period. 

A more extensive survey, carried out by the specialist website professioneacqua.it on public, block-of-flats and private swimming pools, records 185 deaths between 2014 and September 2025, with peaks of 30 cases in 2019 and 20 in 2024. Here, the picture is less straightforward: there is no clear evidence of a steady decline, but rather a stop-start pattern, with some years being worse than others. One proportion remains consistent across all sources: children under the age of 14 account for over a third of the total, and almost half of the deaths in domestic swimming pools.

And, after all, this is not just an Italian phenomenon. In the United States, where the data is more detailed, the National Safety Council estimates that July is consistently the deadliest month for drownings: in 2022, 733 people died in that month alone, more than the average number of deaths across the entire winter months combined. And by age group, the Centres for Disease Control confirm that the highest risk is among children aged between one and four – the age group which, in absolute terms, exceeds that of teenagers and young adults. This is the pattern – almost a natural one – that we are seeing in Italy in recent weeks. Summer brings increased exposure to water, whilst pre-school age brings increased vulnerability. The news follows this pattern every year, in every country. It is only the timing of the reports that makes it seem like an emergency.

Put side by side, these figures tell a different story. There is no sudden spike. If anything, there is a downward trend that has been continuing for years, interrupted by incidents that are striking not so much for their frequency as for their brutality – which one might almost describe as ‘technical’ – a dangerous manhole cover, a fence left open, a few minutes’ distraction. The perception of an epidemic stems from the concentration of news stories over a short period, not from a change in the data.

This does not mean that the alarm is unfounded. Every death in the water – especially that of a child – is a tragedy that must be prevented and deserves a thorough investigation; statistics alone are certainly not enough to offer comfort. However, the figures can help to temper emotional reactions, allowing us to think clearly about the best solutions to adopt.

Meanwhile, things have started to move. Yesterday, 23 July, the Chamber of Deputies approved, with a cross-party vote — 244 in favour — an amendment to the Sport Decree requiring public and communal swimming pools to comply with technical standards to prevent the ‘suction cup’ effect caused by air vents, with immediate closure of the facility in the event of non-compliance and a fund of 4.7 million to bring public pools up to standard. Minister Salvini announced that the measure would come into force on 1 August. Yet even the unanimity of the vote revealed the same ambivalence that characterises this whole issue: the opposition, whilst voting in favour, described the legislation in the Chamber as “poorly drafted, riddled with weaknesses and vague”, accusing it of responding more to a media-driven urgency than to a genuine safety concern. This is the contradiction running through the whole affair: legislation is being rushed through on an issue that the data do not characterise as an emergency, and even those who approve the measure are not convinced that it will solve anything.

The problem is real, but it hasn’t suddenly come to a head. It is a structural flaw that has existed for years. Private swimming pools remain subject to no regulatory obligations whatsoever, and the draft framework bill has been stuck in the Social Affairs Committee since 17 February, caught between the rejection by the regional authorities – who deem it unconstitutional because it would apply only to new pools – and resistance from pool operators over the costs of compliance. It is on this delay, not on an alleged surge in drownings, that political pressure should be focused.