Water Watch Foundation is a Jacksonville-based 501(c)(3) drowning prevention nonprofit centered on one vital layer of protection: clearly designating a responsible watcher whenever children are in or near water.

Through awareness, education, and a simple, visible band, Water Watch helps families make active supervision clear, intentional, and easier to remember.

Why Water Watch

Drowning is fast, often silent, and can happen even when adults are nearby.

In busy or social settings, everyone may believe someone else is watching. Responsibility becomes assumed rather than clearly established—and when everyone is watching, no one may truly be watching.

Fences, swim lessons, life jackets, alarms, and lifeguards are all critical layers of water safety. Water Watch reinforces another vital layer by answering one essential question:

Who is actively watching right now?

A Simple, Visible Reminder

The Water Watch band designates one responsible person as the active watcher whenever children are in or near water.

The person wearing the band knows they are responsible for actively watching. When they need to step away, the band is passed to the next designated watcher.

No technology. No complexity. Just a clear, visible reminder.

The band reminds. People protect.

Our hope is that designated, active supervision becomes as automatic as using car seats.

The Story Behind Water Watch

Water Watch Foundation began with a moment that changed everything.

Years ago, on a family beach vacation, founder Angie Hughes stepped inside for just a few minutes after telling the group she would be right back. When she came back out, something was terribly wrong. People were standing along the shoreline. Someone had gone under.

She searched frantically for her two young sons and, after what felt like the longest minute of her life, she found them still playing in the sand just a little farther up the beach, near the dunes.

They were safe. A teen caught in a rip current that day was not. That harrowing minute followed by the heartbreaking tragedy witnessed is what eventually led her to start Water Watch.

It revealed how easily a dangerous assumption can take hold when several adults are nearby: everyone believes someone else is watching.

In 2026, Angie launched Water Watch Foundation with the hope of making designated, active supervision a standard wherever children are around water.