Charleston, SC - From North Charleston, to Summerville to Colleton County there have been at least seven recent drowning in the area. Hoping to curb the trend State Representative Wendell Gilliard is authoring what he hopes becomes a new law in the state.

"Any public school within a 10 mile radius or has access to a pool they go ahead and put curriculum in for swim classes," he said.

The current bill would require two years of swimming before graduating high school.

"With Charleston being surrounded by water we should all teach our kids to swim by age two," said Andre Duncan.

He’s a parent and a swim instructor; he says he would support the measure.

"Just to have them around the water and know the importance of how to swim and we also need to get parents included more," he said.

Questions about funding for the classes still remain but Gilliard says current teachers could be used. He believes the benefits outweigh the cost.

"We can have them certified for the ones who aren’t to have them teach swim lessons," he said.

"You teach one person to swim you can save about 10 people, when you teach the masses you save the many not just the few," he added.

Although there are still a number of details to work out the Charleston County School District is already looking into the issue. Dr. Nancy McGinley said:

"We support the idea of introducing children to the water at an early age and teaching them to swim before any problems can take root."

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