Safety on regional rivers: Council adopts requirement for personal flotation devices on major county rivers

June 20, 2011

Summary

Outreach as well as enforcement to encourage people to be safe in water.

Story

With warmer weather encouraging people to “get wet,” the Metropolitan King County Council today took action to prevent a day on the water from becoming a tragedy. The Council adopted legislation requiring the use of personal flotation devices (PFDs) on major King County rivers.

“Our rivers are beautiful and inviting this summer, but they are also deadly due to exceptionally high flows, cold temperatures, and rechannelization from winter floods,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips, sponsor of the legislation and chair of the Council’s Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee. “Requiring personal floatation devices will allow people to enjoy King County rivers while saving lives and life safety resources.”

“The goal of this emergency ordinance is to get people to think before they go on a county river,” said Council Chair Larry Gossett. “This is not to punish or keep anyone from having fun, but to have people remember that safety should be your first priority when you go out on the water.”

“As King County’s top public safety official, Sheriff Rahr supports this measure to help people stay safe as they enjoy King County’s rivers this summer,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, chair of the Council’s Law, Justice, Health and Human Services Committee. “Although the proposal is controversial, I support it because it gives our Sheriff one more tool to promote the safety of King County residents.”

Summer is the height of the river recreation season, with a number of people out on water in everything from boats to canoes and kayaks to inner tubes.

Heavy mountain snowpack is expected to result in high water levels in rivers this summer, as the snow melts with warmer weather—just as recreationists take to the rivers. In addition, flooding this past winter has changed the contours of some King County rivers, creating new undercut banks, and moving and reorienting large wood and sediment. As a result, river users may encounter new conditions on the rivers compared to what they’ve seen in the past.

Current state law requires all children 12 years of age and under to wear a PFD when they are on a vessel that is less than 19 feet in length. The legislation adopted by the Council would require use of PFDs on major King County rivers by persons who are boating, floating, or swimming in the rivers. It would apply to anyone floating in any type of buoyant device, like a boat, raft, log raft, air mattress, inner tube, surf board, sail board, canoe or kayak. It would also apply to individuals swimming or wading more than five feet from shore, or in water more than four feet deep, except in designated public beaches or for those who are skin diving.

Major rivers include the South, Middle and North Fork and mainstem Snoqualmie River, the South Fork of the Skykomish River, the Tolt River, the Raging River, the Sammamish River, the Cedar River, the Green River and the White River.

Outreach about the new ordinance will include posting the requirements at access points to major rivers, and coordination with regional organizations focused on drowning prevention and PFD use. The ordinance is subject to enforcement by the King County Sheriff. The first violation would only be a warning; subsequent violations would include a fine of $86.

The measure will expire on October 31, 2011.


Known hazards in King County rivers