WHEN a hot spell comes along, so too does the temptation to enjoy a refreshing swim in cool water.

Many youths will have spent an enjoyable weekend larking about in East Lancashire's reservoirs and rivers under the summer sun.

But many of them will not have stopped to consider the dangers.

Now another death is serving as an all-too-late reminder of those dangers.

Yesterday the emergency services were scrambled to pull the body of a 17-year-old youth from the Blue Lagoon reservoir, near Belmont.

The teenager, from Chorley, drowned while playing with his friends at the popular beauty spot.

It seems the same story emerges every summer. We repeatedly hear of people getting into difficulties and losing their lives, when an afternoon of fun in the sun turns into a day a family will never forget for the wrong reason.

There are warning signs up at many reservoirs - including the Blue Lagoon - telling people not to swim there. And in the past the idea of fencing off such sites has been mooted - although that would turn these popular beauty spots into ugly eyesores.

But perhaps the only answer is for the relevant authorities - and parents - to keep on trying to get the message home about the dangers lurking in our reservoirs. Let's hope we don't have more deaths before the penny drops.