Recent weeks in Butler County and the surrounding region have been brutally hot and humid — which to many of us is just another reason to hit the community swimming pool, Lake Arthur at Moraine State Park, or one of the myriad streams and rivers.

Whether you’re swimming, boating or floating, it pays to always have one thing in the back of your mind: safety. The sad fact of the matter is that not enough people adhere to this cautionary mindset. About 10 drowning deaths occur every day in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1 to 4 — and even those victims who escape with their lives may suffer long-lasting damage. The National Drowning Prevention Alliance estimates that as many as 20 percent of near-drowning victims suffer severe, permanent neurological damage or disability following their near-death experience.

For Pennsylvanians, boating safety continues to be an underappreciated concern. In 2017 the most common boating accident was capsizing; 15 people were killed last year in boating-related accidents — an increase of 4 from 2016 according to annual statistics released by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

These heartbreaking losses of life run the gamut from foreseeable and preventable to freak accidents.

Last July a 36-year-old man in Lebanon County was swept over a dam along Swatara Creek and drowned, after trying to cross a posted “no boating, wading or trespassing” low head dam at Jonestown.

Last April an 18-year-old man drowned in a private pond in Sprint Township, Crawford County, when two kayaks bumped into each other and overturned while he was speaking to a friend.

Boating safety is one thing, but our region’s frenetic weather patterns over the course of the spring (and now summer) are an additional concern.

What’s your plan if a thunderstorm suddenly materializes while you’re floating down the Allegheny River or sailing around Lake Arthur?

What if you’re paddling down the rain-swollen Slippery Rock Creek, as a pair of friends were Wednesday when one man’s vessel overturned?

No one was hurt in the incident, thank goodness; the men never lost control of the situation and had been in contact with family via cell phone. But it is a reminder that random threats can and will present themselves on the water at any time.

Luckily for swimmers and boaters, there are a variety of steps they can take to mitigate risk — from learning CPR and wearing a life jacket, to letting loved-ones know where you will be and abiding by posted warnings and checking weather reports.

Water recreation may seem like a vital part of life these days, as heat indexes climb into the 90s and 100s. So is working to ensure that your day of fun in or on the water doesn’t turn into a tragic, cautionary tale.