The New York City Aquatics Symposium, held August 18 at Brooklyn Law School, drew aquatics advocates and concerned New Yorkers to confront the issues that plague the city and make for dangerous inequity on the New York City swim scene.

A recent round table in the Rockaways of NYC aquatics experts debated why swimming and lifeguarding are flawed in the country’s biggest city—and offered concrete solutions to put the fun back into summer swim.

With an acute shortage of lifeguards threatening to ruin the summer fun of Brooklyn kids, Inclusive Community Wellness (ICW) provided free Red Cross Lifeguard / CPR certification to 16 qualified candidates, 14 of whom passed.