Austin Police Launch 'Operation Dry Water' Ahead Of July 4 To Curb Drunk Boating

AUSTIN, TX — The Austin Police Department will conduct "Operation Dry Water" this upcoming weekend, a national weekend of detection of boating while intoxicated offenders at area lakes, police said Tuesday.

The initiative is conducted by various law enforcement agencies throughout the country ahead of the July 4th holiday period beginning this weekend. The effort aims to reduce the number of alcohol/drug-related accidents and fatalities by deterring inhibited operation of watercraft.

Launched in 2009 by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA), in partnership with the United States Coast Guard, as well as local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, Operation Dry Water has been a highly successful effort to draw public attention to the hazards of BWI, officials said. Since the effort began, the percentage of boating fatalities with alcohol named as a contributing factor has decreased from 19 to 16 percent in the United States, officials added.

APD will patrol area lakes, with the assistance of officers specially trained in intoxication detection, looking for people who are Boating While Intoxicated. A BWI charge carries the same punishment as Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). It is a Class B misdemeanor, with a minimum term of confinement of 72 hours.

Operation Dry Water
Lake Austin
9 a.m. Friday, June 30, 2017 –
12 a.m. Monday, July 3, 2017

More about Operation Dry Water
In 2016, 538 local, state and federal agencies joined forces in every U.S. state and territory for the Operation Dry Water campaign. Law enforcement was out in force across the country keeping the waters safe by simultaneously identifying and removing hundreds of impaired boaters from the waterways and educating recreational boaters one on one.
Over the course of the Operation Dry Water weekend last year, 6,196 officers:
• Made 367 BUI arrests for both drugs and alcohol;
• Issued 18,569 citations and safety warnings;
• Made 55,141 vessel contacts;
• Contacted 131,054 boaters.

Since the inception of the Operation Dry Water Campaign in 2009, law enforcement officers have removed 2,520 BWI operators from the nation’s waterways and made contact with over 860,400 boaters during the annual three-day weekend, police said. The campaign continues to make a significant impact on boater safety and spread the message of the danger of boating under the influence, officials added.

Operation Dry Water takes place in June just prior to the Fourth of July holiday, a holiday known for increased boaters on the waters where alcohol use is prevalent, as are subsequent boating accidents and fatalities. For more information, see www.operationdrywater.org.

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