Why this mom is advocating for water safety statewide

Allison Schaefers Dubovsky plans to visit the detention pond in Pearl City on Feb. 28, where her 5-year-old daughter Charlotte “Sharkey” Schaefers drowned 21 years ago. 

“I only do it once a year for the anniversary of her death because it is too hard to visit more often,” she told Aloha State Daily. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss her.”

Among the neighborhood kids, Sharkey had jumped in the water that day in 2004 to save her friend who was “struggling in the water, and she drowned while pushing him into the safety of another child’s arms.” She had swim training as a 6-month-old, her mom recalled.

According to Dubovsky, the flooded detention pond was “a hidden hazard,” unfenced, without signage and “improperly maintained.” Developers of the Navy Housing community were aware the drainpipe was 89% clogged and “the cost to fix it outweighed the liabilities,” she said.

Dubovsky, a longtime journalist for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, is a bereaved parent volunteer for the Hawaiʻi Water Safety Coalition, which was established in 2023 and, more recently, unveiled its 2025 Hawaiiʻi Water Safety Plan, which she wrote and edited.

“The HWSC has a growing network of water safety and drowning prevention stakeholders, and we are committed to supporting each other and making a huge advocacy splash,” Dubovsky said. “Members come from government, nonprofits, the community and several are bereaved parents like me. Everyone who has touched this effort embodies the spirit of mālama kekahi i kekahi (to take care of each other).”

HWSC is in support of several bills still progressing in the Legislature:

-​​HB1233: Bill for counties to adopt ordinances that regulate retention and detention ponds statewide is awaiting hearing in the House Committee on Finance.

-SB1221: Bill for state department of Land and Natural Resources to inspect retention and detention ponds statewide is scheduled for a hearing by The Senate Ways and Means (WAM) on Feb. 26.

“I have been working on all of the HWSC bills really hard, as well as engagements related to rolling out the Water Safety Plan, and balancing work,” Dubovsky said. “I'm exhausted. It's really emotionally draining”

Whatʻs been different about your advocacy work for retention and detention pond safety this session compared to previous efforts?

The makeup of this Legislature is different, and what I mean by that is that it's a broader mix of people, and there are more parents such as Rep. Jeanne Kapela, who introduced HB1233. There are also more public safety champions such as Sen. Glenn Wakai, who introduced SB1221.

I've also found that the lawmakers that I've been working with this session are very receptive to hearing from advocates, and have a greater understanding that Hawaiʻi is experiencing a drowning crisis. … The Hawaiian Lifeguard Association, the Hawaiʻi Water Safety Coalition and the Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition have strongly supported Sharkey's bills, along with many like-minded individuals, which has elevated the concerns of friends and family. 

I believe that this effort also has made a huge difference for HB133, which would provide funding for surfing as an interscholastic sport in high school and for HB1234, a two-year pilot for in-school swimming lessons at public schools. ... Drowning worldwide is an equity issue. ... Efforts to get similar school surfing and in-school lessons bills previously fell flat over many years. Together we are making a difference.

What have you learned during this process?

My earlier legislative efforts were personally soul-sucking due to the amount of developer opposition. Thankfully that's not happening this time around, and I don't think it will as we took great pains to ensure that these bills took a common-sense, phased-in approach. 

In the earlier years, the pushback was so hard to hear for a parent of a child that had so recently died in an improperly maintained detention pond. Also, my son was still a boy who needed his mom, so I decided to pause my legislative efforts; however, that too took a toll because of my strong desire to protect other children in Hawaiʻi from the same fate. More recently, I realized that the urgency to regulate these ponds has been made greater by climate change, which has created more frequent and intense rainfall resulting in increased use of detention and retention ponds.

The latest version of the Ala Wai Flood Risk Management Project has one detention pond planned for the Ala Wai Golf Course; however, earlier variations of the plan contemplated building large detention ponds in Oʻahu parks, including Kapiʻolani Park, Makiki District Park, Mānoa Valley District Park, Pālolo Valley District Park. While the large network of detention ponds were considered for flood control, other alternatives were selected as it was determined based on feedback “that the use of public parks as detention facilities could reduce acceptability by the public.” I provided feedback as part of the project's public review process.

... Our bills are geared more to communities, neighborhoods and parks.

What is the opposition saying now?

We have not had as much developer pushback this time as last. Iʻve also mellowed in my concerns, as reflected in the current requirements. The cost still falls to the developer for fencing, signage and a life buoy. And for county inspection, the cost should not be bigger than one person’s salary to survey.

What was Sharkey like?

We moved here when she was 3 and my son, Joshua, was in first grade (now 29). Sharkey was a tomboy; she liked fancy clothes and then would roll in the mud. She was also the town greeter, greeting the neighbors in our cul-de-sac.

She was braver than most. There were a lot of older children on the banks that day, and she’s the one that jumped in to save her friendʻs life. I used to call her “pint-sized powerhouse.” I think if she was that way at age 5, she would have been one dynamo woman. If a 5-year oldʻs life has meaning and purpose, then every second of every day has meaning. It has occurred to me that the best thing I could do for her, is to live my life in a way that has meaning and purpose. I do think that joy is the goal – not staying in the sad place that I was after she died. I can visit it once in awhile – thatʻs what I do once a year when I visit the place she died.

In a lot of ways it's been a gift; but if I could trade it all, I’d give anything to hold her, stroke her hair and watch graduate from school or get married. That may not be her legacy and it’s not mine, but I think these bills might be her legacy. I don’t intend to stop. I’m hoping we’re starting a movement – a hero movement – Sharkey’s heroes, because we need more water safety in Hawai’i.

For more information about the Hawaiʻi Water Safety Coalition, visit hiwatersafetycoalition.org.

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.