Water Safety New Zealand says young Maori are saving lives thanks to the survival skills they are learning in a portable pool the organisation is taking to different parts of the country.
The pool is being assembled on Wednesday morning in Welcome Bay, on the outskirts of Tauranga, as part of a programme to teach water skills to young rural-based Maori.
It will stay there for the school term, so almost 200 Maori students from two schools will have easy access to swimming lessons and training in survival skills.
The pool spent the last school term in Cambridge, in Waikato.
Water Safety New Zealand's chief executive Matt Claridge says two kura kaupapa students taught survival skills there have already saved someone from drowning at a local swimming hole.
The boys were wearing life-jackets and guided the distressed swimmer to safety.
Mr Claridge said Maori make up to 30% of all drownings in New Zealand each year, which amounts to more than 25 deaths every 12 months.
However he said teaching safety skills early will reduce that figure.
He said the pool is being taken to regions with high Maori drowning rates. It will be moved to Gisborne for the third school term, and to Hawkes Bay for the fourth.
Water Safety New Zealand said the pool can be heated and caters for up to 15 students at a time. It holds 50,000 litres of water.
Water safety lessons are planned for whanau and members of the public outside school hours.