EVERYONE is horrified when a young life is taken by a despairingly simple drowning accident in a garden pond.

It is not just the tragic waste but the shock that something as ordinary and pleasureable as a domestic pond should claim the life of a much-loved child.

A new campaign launched today will, it is hoped, cut this terrible toll. Consumer affairs minister Kim Howells is urging everyone with a pond to make it safe. He wants people to erect trellis or fencing to put these stretches of water out of reach of youngsters.

And, of course, the BEN backs such a sensible and timely campaign wholeheartedly.

Parents in the Bolton area have already experienced the awful loss of a child in this way, and know the desperate feelings behind those two frightening words "if only ...."

Water has always had an attraction for children of all ages. They love the coolness, the splashing, the feel of it through their fingers, and all that intensifies when the weather is warm.

It's also easy to forget, especially when our own children have grown up, that tiny tots can move swiftly and single-mindedly towards danger without realising it.

Thanks to the current wealth of TV gardening programmes and the fact that we now spend large amounts of time and money on our homes, there are now many more water features in local gardens.

They are there to be enjoyed, to make our quality of life better. Simple measures to also make them childproof will not damage this. But, they could easily save a child's life -- and it could be YOUR child.