How 2 backyard pool drownings prompted Ontario teen to develop life-saving idea

A Grade 8 student from Burlington, Ont., says the inspiration for his inexpensive monitor to prevent backyard pool drownings was spurred on by a couple of fatal incidents involving young children.

Evan Budz earned top honours at the 2024 Canada Wide Science Fair for his Virtual Lifeguard imaging system that he hopes will prevent some of the hundreds of drownings across Canada each year.

One of the drivers was the death of a three-year-old last year during an Oakville pool party that “hit home,” with Budz having frequented his grandparent’s pool during the summers.

“I really saw that the drowning was a problem in my community, because these two incidents were really kind of close to home for me,” the 13-year-old revealed.

“I wanted to create a device that could be used to solve this problem and possibly prevent similar fatalities from occurring.”

Meanwhile, Canada has seen the popularity of the backyard pool spike in recent years amid the onset of the pandemic, which restricted pleasure travel.

Statistics Canada says a record 11,168 permits for private pool installations were issued in the second quarter of 2021. In the same quarter a year later, 7,903 permits were issued.

In all, more than 38,000 would be given out that year.

As of 2022, the Canadian Drowning Prevention Coalition estimates the country has around 460 drownings annually, with 99 per cent taking place in settings without lifeguard supervision.

Last June, the National Drowning Prevention Alliance discovered that 88 per cent of children drown with at least one adult present.

Budz says his virtual lifeguard uses artificial intelligence to distinguish between swimming and drowning and alerts bystanders of the latter to prevent a fatality.

Audible, visual and email alarms