MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) New research says the color of your child’s swimsuit could make the difference between them ending up drowned or being rescued. Researchers placed 14 swimsuits of different hues to see how visible they were from shore in both lakes and pools. In pools, neon pink and orange were the most visible while darker colors like dark blues and greens simply appeared to be shadows in the water with light blue and white all but invisible under the water.
In lakes, neon colors were best except for pink which didn’t show up in lake water. White was also a good color for lake swimwear. All the other colors were barely visible. The color of a swimsuit makes a difference to a lifeguard. When a swimmer is in trouble and thrashing that’s one thing, but when a swimmer is lying inert in the water, the color of the suit is often the only visual clue (especially in lakes) for lifeguards and others to be alerted to a swimmer in distress.