Over the Fourth of July weekend, 13 Texans drowned in public waters across the state. That brings the total number of drowning in 2008 to at least 66 through just half the year. That's too many.

With the proximity of lakes Sam Rayburn and Livingston, and the Gulf of Mexico not too far away for a determined boater, Dibollians are plenty familiar with water sports. They should be equally familiar with water safety.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is using the occasion of the tragic Independence Day weekend to reinforce some basics about water safety, and these points apply to a riverside fishing expedition as well as to a boating party on Lake Sam Rayburn or Galveston Bay.

The first is to remember to wear life jackets, and especially to put them on children in any situation where water is nearby - that fishing trip to the creek, for example. Young children can move awfully fast, and little ones can be attracted to things in the water and get in trouble, literally over their heads, before they or anyone else knows it.

Second is to appoint someone to make constant head counts when a group is swimming. TPWD personnel stress that, contrary to popular belief, people drowning typically don't yell, scream, thrash around and generally raise a ruckus. Most often, they simply slip under the water. Having someone keeping track of the swimming party is the best way to prevent unnoticed drowning. In warm weather, depriving the brain of oxygen for four minutes generally is fatal. That's not very long.

If someone does get in trouble, the steps to remember, T&W stresses, are "reach, throw, then row." First try to reach the struggling person from the shore with a rope, tree limb or other object. If that doesn't work, throw a floating cooler, life jacket, inner tube, foam ice chest or similar device to the person to provide buoyancy or a path to shore. The third step is to put on a life jacket and row out in a boat to the person.

The Parks and Wildlife Department warns against swimming out to a drowning person. Many would-be rescuers have been dragged down by panicking people, the result being a double drowning.

TPWD is ramping up an outreach campaign called "Nobody's Waterproof - Play it Safe." The TPWD Nobody's Waterproof outreach team will conduct on-the-water and shoreline water safety events at various lakes and other locations on high-profile weekends. Texans everywhere would be wise to pay attention.